When A Girl's Thrown In
by wolfhorsegurl3
Summary: When the tesseract gets absorbed into a young girl, nobody knows what to do. Unfathomable energy is locked away inside an innocent young girl, and of course, she wants to help the Avengers fight Loki. But that's out of the question, right? Maybe not. And of course Loki can't access the tesseract's energy from inside her, right? Maybe you're wrong again. Just maybe.
1. Chapter 1

It was the summer before ninth grade, I had turned fourteen last week, and summer was going perfect. Not even kidding. I mean perfect. I was at the stable Monday through Friday and I saw my friends practically every day. We went to barbeques and the beach and pool parties and then on weekends I would go run errands with the family. And the best part? No school! Duh.

It was a sunny summer weekend in Georgia and I was out on a trail ride on my Arabian stallion, Envy. I was riding him bareback like I so often did, not a single piece of tack on him. We were wandering around the woods behind the stable, but we'd been out for a long time. Almost three hours, maybe. We were a good distance from the stable, or any other civilization for that matter. That didn't bother me at all though, I loved the peace and beauty of the forest.

Bright golden afternoon sunlight filtered through the rustling leaves of the trees, dappling the forest floor. It had rained the previous night so the forest had that amazing damp earth, rainy smell. I know some people hate that smell, but I love it. Soon enough, Envy and I reached a little stream, one that gurgled and was cool despite the soaring temperatures.

It wasn't the first time we'd been here. I'd bring a snack and a few treats for Envy and sit on the bank as he splashed around in the shallow water. After a few minutes he plodded over and nudged my pockets, looking for treats. I just smiled and rolled my eyes, giving him some. He nudged me again, his way of asking for more, and I just stroked his cheek.

"If you eat anymore you'll get fat." I teased him, and my white horse just snorted in response, as if he disagreed with me.

He snorted again and then dipped his nose in the water, flicking it up to spray the stream water all over me. I gasped at the sudden rush of cold and kicked water back at him before laughing and getting up. I took one look at my soaked clothes and sighed before walking over to a patch of sunlight ground and laying down in it, willing the sun to dry my clothes.

I didn't know if it was working, but my bare arms were definitely going to get a nice tan. The hot sun baked down on me, tanning my already tan skin. I closed my emerald eyes, the sun burning the inside of my eyelids red. I laid there for a few minutes, relaxed, content, my mind buzzing with thoughts but totally blank. I could hear the water rushing in the stream, Envy playing around in it, the leaves rustling through the leaves, birds chirping. It was so perfect.

I woke up to the sound of a jet flying in my direction. I opened my eyes to see the sky dark and starry, Envy standing grazing next to me. I scrambled to my feet, muttering curses under my breath. I'd fallen asleep! Mom and Dad were probably going crazy looking for me! And I didn't have a flashlight! Oh great, just great. This was just wonderful. The jet passed overhead and I had to hold Envy to keep him from freaking out. All the sudden a blue light filled up the sky and I turned around to see the source of the light falling from the sky...

Right towards me. My eyes went wide and I pushed Envy away, trying to run from whatever was falling, but I wasn't fast enough. The blinding blue light slammed into me, sending me flying back and slamming into the forest floor. I gasped for air as the breath was knocked out of me, and tried to move but I couldn't. I couldn't see anything around the blinding blue light, I couldn't feel anything over the pain that was coursing through my body.

What the hell was going on? Whatever had hit me wasn't just light. It was traveling through me, stinging and burning me from the inside out. I screamed and screamed until my throat was raw and my voice was gone, tears streaming down my cheeks. My ears were ringing and I could hear the blood pulsing through them, but as I writhered around on the floor I felt the floor 'thud thud thud thud' as something walked towards me. Envy. He nudged me and I opened my mouth to scream but nothing came out. More tears streamed down my cheeks and I rolled onto my side, feeling myself start to slip away.

"Go home." I rasped to him, and he nudged me again before running off towards home.

I could hear my once rapid heartbeat starting to slow, and I can't keep my eyelids open anymore. Am I dying? I can't die, not now. I haven't even started high school yet, I haven't done so many things yet! I clench my fists around the dead leaves and dirt and grass of the forest floor, hoping to anchor myself to staying conscious. But it doesn't work. I can feel myself fading away, more, more, and then black.


	2. Chapter 2

Thunder crashed outside, the jet shaking a little and lightning streaking across the sky. Loki looked around, barely raising his head, something between annoyance and fear in his now blue eyes.

"What's wrong?" Captain America asked, taunting Loki in that subtle way of his as he looked over his shoulder. "Scared of a little thunder?"

"I'm not overly fond of what follows." he admitted, trying to get a look outside.

All the sudden something landed harshly on the top of the jet, sending it shaking rapidly. Those working for S.H.I.E.L.D looked at each other in confusion as Loki just kind of smirked. Stark reached for his helmet and put it on as he walked to the back of the jet, opening the hatch.

"What are you doing?" Cap shouted over the wind, but before Tony could answer a huge blonde brute landed on the hatch, hammering Tony out of the way and storming into the jet to stand before Loki. The brute snarled and grabbed Loki by his neck before flying off just as quick as he had come.

...

Thor landed with a furious ease on the mountain top, throwing Loki down as he did so, watching him painfully slide into the earth and groaning. "Where is the tesseract?" Thor growled, though there was a hint of hesitation in his voice.

His younger brother chuckled, a cheeky smile spreading across his face. "Ah, I missed you too, brother."

"Do I look to be in a gaming mood?"

"You should thank me. With the Bifrost gone how much dark energy did the Allfather have to muster up to conjure you here to your precious earth?" Loki taunted, struggling to get up.

With a scowl, Thor dropped Mjolnir and grabbed Loki by his shoulder armor, lifting him to his feel and holding him still. He looked as if he were about to yell at Loki, but then his features softened, his voice not so angry anymore. "I thought you dead."

"Did you mourn?" was Loki's reply, though it was evident he wasn't really interested in the answer.

"We all did. Our father-"

"Your father." Loki snarled, pulling away from Thor and walking down the mountain. "He did tell you my true parentage, did he not?"

"We were raised together, we played together, we fought together. Do you remember none of that?" he asked in bewilderment.

"I remember a shadow. Living in the shadow of your greatness. I remember you tossing me into an abyss!" A frown creased Thor's face as he noted the pain Loki wasn't trying to hide. "I who was and should be king!"

"So you take the world I love as recompense for your imagined slights? Earth is under my protection."

"And you're doing a marvelous job at that." Loki sneered, chuckling. "The humans slaughter each other in droves while you idly fret. I mean to rule them, as why should I not?"

"You think yourself above them?"

Loki furrowed his eyebrows, a little taken aback by Thor's question. "Well, yes."

"Then you miss the truth of ruling, brother. A throne would suit you ill."

The raven haired man scowled and pushed Thor out of his way so he could stalk back up the mountain. "I've seen worlds you've never known about! I have grown, Odinson, in my exile. I have seen the true power of the tesseract, and when I wield it-"

"Who showed you this power? Who controls the would be king?"

"I AM A KING!"

"Not here! You give up the tesseract! You give up this poisonous dream!" Thor frowned then, shaking Loki slightly. "You come home." His voice was pleading, his blue eyes begging for Loki to return.

"I don't have it. You need the cube to bring me home, but I've sent it off I know not where."

...

The tesseract zapped slightly as Selvig prodded it, trying to see if it could cause a big energy spike. They needed the cube to command to Lord Loki at an instant, and Selvig was trying to find out how to make it listen to them. They could listen to it, but she would not listen to them. Typical of a woman. It was starting to frustrate Dr. Selvig and soon Hawkeye had picked up on it.

"Here, try this." the archer suggested, handing Selvig an arrow from his quiver.

The aging man just shook his head. "No, I'll get it on my own."

Hawkeye shook his head too, holding the precious arrow out to Selvig. "Just try it."

"No!"

The younger man rolled his eyes then and tried to poke the tesseract with the arrow head, pushing Selvig out of the way. Selvig bumped hard into the machine holding the tesseract, causing it to fall from the machine and clatter onto the floor, bouncing.

"What's going on back there?" the co-pilot asked, using the control panel to help himself stand up. His large hand hit the 'open hatch' button and the back of the jet flipped down, the tesseract bouncing around on the floor and falling out of the open hatch. A blue light was casted into the sky, one that got dimmer as the cube fell away from them.

"Shit." Hawkeye muttered, turning to face the pilot and co-pilot. "Land. We need to find the cube."

"Yes, sir."


	3. Chapter 3

I don't know how long I was out for, but when I opened my eyes it was still night time. A glowing blue lights surrounded me and I wanted to panic, but I couldn't. My whole body ached and felt like it was humming with electricity, as if I was getting tazed. My ears rang and I could hear something humming inside of me.

All the sudden white lights started appearing on the edges of my vision. They moved around, searching the forest, and occasionally they would flash across a person. They were flashlights! And people! They could help me! I tried to call out to them but nothing came out of my mouth, the words getting trapped in my raw throat. They found me soon enough though, and I squinted as the flashlights got closer. Yes! Help! I was safe! They could take me to a hospital!

The first person to reach me was a kind of short man with cropped dark blonde hair, his eyes glowed the same color as the blue emanating from me. He had a strong jaw, muscular arms, and a quiver on his back. He looked familiar, and it took me a while to figure out where I had seen him before.

Finally, it clicked. I'd seen him on the news before. He was Hawkeye, one of S.H.I.E.L.D's most famous agents. Why was he here though? In Georgia? Looking for me? That's when I started to figure out that something was seriously wrong here. And I was caught in the middle of it, whatever 'it' was.

I tried to say his name, or what the world called him, I couldn't remember his real name. He looked over his shoulder then at the people with him, but I couldn't really here what he was saying. He looked back down at me then and wiped something off my face. His fingers came away wet with tears. I was crying? I hadn't even noticed, but then again over the pain I couldn't feel anything really.

Hawkeye picked me up then and unmeasurable pain ricocheted through my body. I opened my mouth to scream but nothing came out, and this time I noticed the tears as they fell from my eyes.

"You'll be okay." Hawkeye told me, loud enough for me to hear him over the ringing and humming in my eyes. He started to talk again but I was slipping away again.

...

Clint walked into the jet and swept everything off the nearest work table that was bolted to the floor, Selvig's notes fluttering to the floor. He placed the young girl on top of the table then. "Get me water." he ordered one of the men on the plane. They did as he asked and he opened the water bottles, pouring one of them onto a rag.

"What the hell are you doing?" Selvig demanded as he walked over. "Where's the tesseract?" Clint just nodded towards the girl and started to wipe her face off gently with the rag. "You mean it's in the girl?"

Clint just nodded again and pushed the girl's brown curls away from her face so he could continue wiping her face. "It's in her. Can't you see? She's glowing."

Selvig looked closer and then his eyes went wide. Clint was right. The girl was glowing bright blue, and now that he noticed he could feel the tesseract trying to contact him...from the girl. 'I'm here.' she whispered to him and Clint. He shook his head and walked to his other work table, picking up a scanner that could detect radiation and energy, one made specifically for the tesseract. He slowly swept it over the girl and the scanner beeped like crazy, making everybody on the jet wince as it started to take off.

"Selvig what's wrong?" Clint asked, looking up at the doctor and taking a pause in his wiping.

"The tesseract is giving off more radiation than we've seen. Dangerous levels, levels high enough to kill even Loki."

"Then we need to take it out of her."

Selvig shook his head then, pulling away the scanner. "We can't. The tesseract isn't a cube anymore. It's spreading itself through her, circulating with her blood. We can't just cut her open and remove it. It's in it's raw form, that's why it's giving off so much radiation."

Clint looked over at the small screen on the top of the scanner, frowning as he saw the picture of swirling energy on the screen. "Won't the radiation kill her?"

"It should have killed her already, it shouldn't be molding to her. But it is. It shouldn't even be in her body."

Clint returned his gaze to the girl then, watching as she gave a slight jerk. She was glowing a bit brighter now, and even he could hear the humming coming from her. He noticed her pained expression as she stayed unconscious, thinking how odd it was to see that on a person her age. How old was she? Thirteen? Fourteen? Fifteen? She looked a bit young for fifteen, a bit young for fourteen too.

She was shivering yet sweating at the same time, her hands clenched around dead leaves and dirt and grass. He pried her hands open and wiped the dirt off them and her arms before placing the rag down and sighing. She was so tiny, so small. Maybe only around 5'2, with a wrist so small he could wrap his fingers all the way around it and still have room for her other one. She was so thin too, not anorexic looking, but thin, and she already had those teenage girl curves.

"I can't figure this out." Selvig said, shaking his head, causing Hawkeye to walk over to the doctor and look down at the formula's he had started working on.

"We don't need to. We can use her as a hostage when we go get Loki back tomorrow. Then he can get it out of her with his staff."

"You think that will work?"

Hawkeye just shrugged. Selvig sighed and looked over his shoulder at the girl. For a moment he returned. It felt wrong to do nothing to try and help the girl. She had to be in so much pain right now. But then those thoughts were snatched away and all he wanted was to get the tesseract back.


	4. Chapter 4

The next time I woke up I was greeted by a clean hotel room, the thick navy blue curtains blocking out the sunlight. If there was any. I still had no idea what time it was. Or where I was. Or what had happened to me. Or who I was with. I took a deep breath, trying to get rid of the panic rising inside me.

I lay there, checking myself for injuries. My body felt weird, tingly, like I had too much caffeine or sugar, but my mind was foggy. It still ached a little, but not as bad as it had last time I was conscious. I sat up slowly, brushing my side bangs away from my face, and looked around.

Through the dark I could see the room was painted a light grey, the furniture all black and chic. The bed sheets and blinds were navy blue, as were the lamp shades. The only other color lie on a canvas hung behind the bed, the painting one of just lines and scribbles. You know, the stuff that people consider art.

The room was empty, like nothing had been touched except the bed I lay in. I looked down at myself then and wiggled my toes, noticed my socks and boots had been taken off. They sat on the floor by the side of my bed on the dull grey carpet. I was still dressed in my tan riding breeches and dirty green tank top. I was dirty, never having gotten the chance to shower or anything after my time at the barn. After all, I had been hit by a blue glowy thing and then kidnapped.

Speaking of kidnapping, where were my captors? "Hello?" I called out, my voice scratchy and raw. I cleared my throat and called out again. "Hello? Is anybody there?" All the sudden a door opened, light flooding in from the other room. A light turned on soon after as Hawkeye and some old man walked into the room. "Thank god you're here!" I told them, feeling relieved. "Can you tell me what's going on? Why am I here? What happened to me?"

The old man brought over a black chair from the desk on the opposite side of the room and sat down in it, a few feet away from the bed. "I'm Dr. Selvig." he started to say, and the name sounded slightly familiar. I couldn't place it though, I'd probably heard it on the news. I watch a lot of that, if you haven't already noticed. "I worked with S.H.I.E.L.D., and I helped them study this thing called the tesseract."

My brows furrowed and I tilted my head a little. I'd never heard of that before. He see's my confusion and continues to speak, leaning forward a little in his chair. It was then that I noticed his eyes were the same color as the blue I had seen last night. They weren't just blue, they were a bright electric blue, and so were Hawkeye's. Something about that was wrong, but I decided to focus on what Dr. Selvig was saying.

"The tesseract comes from a planet called Asgard. It's not from this galaxy nor any galaxy close to us, but it's out there. A very long time ago it was found on earth, during the Dark Ages. But it was lost again after a few hundred years. During World War Two it was found again by a group called Hydra. Captain America managed to crash the plane holding the tesseract into the ocean, and it was once again lost. But, again, just recently it was found again."

"Okay, so besides it getting lost and found all the time, what does it do?" I asked, wondering what this had to do with me.

"The tesseract is a cube of raw energy and radiation. It can destroy things with little effort, it can also be the world's key to self sustaining energy. The world needs that. It is also something our Lord Loki needs."

I got chills down my spine and I furrowed my brows again. Lord Loki? Who called people 'lord' anymore? This wasn't medieval times anymore. And who was this guy? He didn't sound good, that was for sure.

"The tesseract fell from our jet last night and it hit you. For some reason, the tesseract is melding to your body, turning into it's raw form and becoming part of you."

"Can you get it out?" I asked before thinking anything else through.

"I can't figure it out. The tesseract is more magic than science, I'm afraid magic isn't my specialty. Loki is from Asgard, he knows magic. He may be able to get it out."

"Well where is he? If he can get this thing out of me I want it out. I don't want any part of this outer space energy stuff. So far, it's been nothing but pain and confusion. I just want to go back home." I say shaking my head and crossing my arms.

Dr. Selvig frowned, opening his mouth to say something, when Hawkeye stepped forward and stopped him. The Dr looked up at him, his gaze questioning and confused. Hawkeye just shook his head. What weren't they telling me?

'Why won't he let me tell her?' I heard Selvig say, though his lip didn't move. Maybe I had blinked and missed it.

"Tell me what?" I asked him, and the Dr just looked at me. "Just tell me." I demanded, starting to get frustrated. "I know you're not telling me something because of him.

"We can't surgically remove the tesseract from you. It's in it's raw form, it's not a cube anymore. Loki will have to try with his staff."

Staff? Who honestly used a staff anymore?

"It should have killed you when the tesseract just hit you. It should have killed you when it molded to your body. Taking it out now may actually you."

Hawkeye rolled his eyes and shook his head, as if Selvig had just told me something dangerous. I thought over Selvig's words and started to frown again. I didn't want to die. Couldn't S.H.I.E.L.D. do something to cure me? I looked up at Hawkeye, trying not to look afraid. I wasn't sure if I was succeeding.

"Why take me to Loki, though? Can't you take me to S.H.I.E.L.D.? Can't they help me?"

"I don't work for S.H.I.E.L.D. anymore." was his reply.

I got chills down my spine then. He didn't smile, he didn't laugh, he didn't say he was just kidding. He was serious. "Well is Loki a good guy?"

"Depends on what you consider good. Now go get ready, we're leaving to go get Loki now." And with that he turned on his heel and walked back into his room.

Now I was starting to get scared. Why did he decide to switch sides? Why was he a bad guy now? I was pretty sure the ex-good guy wasn't going to tell me so I looked over to Dr. Selvig for an answer. Selvig just stood up and left as well.

"Wait! What's going on?!" I didn't get an answer. "I'm not going with you!" I shouted.

Hawkeye came back then, standing in the doorway. "Yeah?"

"Yeah! If you're not a good guy anymore then that means you're dangerous. I can't trust you. So I'm not going with you."

He started to walk towards me. "I don't believe you have a choice."

I started to scoot back on the bed, towards the other side of it. But soon the headboard reached my back and my heart started to hammer in my chest. "Yes I do. You can't make me do anything." Surprisingly, my voice came out strong.

"That's not for you to decide. You're coming with us."

I shook my head and then he lunged at me. I threw myself off the side of the bed, Hawkeye scrambling after me.

I ran around the bed and threw myself at the door, yanking it open only to have it open halfway. I looked up to see a chain hooked onto the door and I started to panic more, letting out a whimper. I reached up to unlatch it as quick as I could but everything seemed too slow, like in a dream when you can't run fast enough. All the sudden hands were at my sides, yanking me away from the door and throwing me back. I sailed through the air and hit the bottom of the bed, my head hitting a post.

I tried to push myself up, but as soon as I did so I could feel the world spinning and black dots clouded my vision as I fell back onto my side. My mind was screaming for me to get up and run but my body wouldn't listen. He grabbed my arms then and turned me onto my back. I finally got my body working and I smacked him across the face, squirming in his grasp.

That didn't do anything but make him angry. He punched me and I turned my face just in time for it to land on my cheek instead of my nose. My cheek screamed with pain and I could tell it was going to bruise up badly.

"HELP!" I shouted at the top of my lungs but he soon clamped his hand over my mouth.

I tried to scream again but they were muffled by his hand. It finally sunk in that I wasn't getting away from him any time soon and a sob caught in my throat, tears pricking the back of my eyes. I was trapped. He had me. I was stuck here to whatever fate they decided for me. I held back the tears as he dragged me to my feet, taking a bungee chord from Selvig and bounding my wrists behind my back with it.

"You can't take me downstairs like this." I told them, still fighting back the tears and bitter taste of defeat.

"Who said we were going downstairs?" Hawkeye replied, though it wasn't a question.

Selvig walked into the bathroom and handed Hawkeye a hand towel, which he ripped in half and then tied around my mouth to gag me.


	5. Chapter 5

After they'd practically dragged me up seven flights of stairs, they dragged me across the roof and onto a sleek black jet. My first thought was "What the hell? How did nobody notice a plane on the roof?" But then I wondered where we were going. How far was it that we couldn't drive? But then my eyes went wide and I looked around, my jaw being stopped from dropping by my gag. We were in New York City. There was no denying it, because Stark Tower was off in the distance. Holy crap, New York was so far away from Georgia. Even if I managed to escape from Hawkeye and Dr. Selvig, I couldn't run back to Georgia. I really was stuck now.

They dragged me onto the plane and plopped me down into a seat, not even buckling the seat belt. Thanks guys. The plane took off then, flying straight up like a helicopter and then forward. My dad had told me about these kinds of planes, but I couldn't remember the name of them for the life of me.

I looked around the small jet, noticing there was more people here. Or rather, more men. All the men had big guns strapped to their back and were dressed in all black. I was the only female on the plane and I shrunk back in my seat as I realized this. I didn't feel comfortable at all. These people had kidnapped me, and I'd watched the news too many times to know that this might not end well. Luckily, none of them even glanced my way after Hawkeye explained that I was property of Loki. Well, excuse me, but I am nobody's property. The thing inside of me might be, but I'm not. Just wanted to clear that up.

There were no windows in the jet other than the one up front so I couldn't see where we were going. All I know is that we were heading away from the buildings. Eventually, with nothing else to do, I finally noticed how hungry I was. Like, really freaking hungry. I hadn't eaten dinner last night, or breakfast this morning. That had to be a whole twelve hours, maybe more. I felt like my stomach was going to eat my back bone. It roared loudly, begging for food, but nobody seemed to hear it.

Finally, Dr. Selvig noticed it. He glanced over his shoulder at me, his electric blue eyes looking me over. _'She looks miserable.' _ I heard him say, except his lips didn't move. And now that I noticed nobody else had heard it either. His voice was echoing in my mind, finally fading away.

_'I am miserable.' _I thought with a scowl, the bruise on my cheek stinging as I did so.

Dr. Selvig's eyes went wide then and he scrambled out of his seat to come over to me. I shied away from him, not trusting him one bit. He narrowed his eyes, and as I looked up at him I felt strangely connected. And then all the sudden it hit me. His eyes were blue like that because of the tesseract. And Hawkeye's too. They were being controlled.

_'What did you say?'_ Selvig asked, snapping me from my thoughts, but again his lips didn't move.

I raised an eyebrow at him. _'I said I was miserable.'_ I thought.

_'You're gagged.'_

_'And your lips aren't moving.'_

_'How are you doing that?'_

I shrugged, wincing as the bungee chord rubbed against the raw skin and bruises on my wrists. _'I'm just thinking.'_

_'And so am I.'_

We were both silent for a moment, our brows furrowed as we tried to figure out what was going on. _'I can read your mind.'_ I thought to him finally.

Selvig pointed to one of the men on the jet who was cleaning his gun. _'What's he thinking about?'_

I looked over at the man, my eyebrows furrowing again as I concentrated. I imagined my mind wandering around the plane and then connecting to his, and then suddenly it did. I was inside his head, his thoughts swirling around in there. _'How long until we get there? I hate planes.' _I heard him think.

I smiled around the gag, looking back over at the Dr, actually getting excited. I could read minds. Freaking awesome!. _'He doesn't like flying.'_

The old man looked between me and the man whose mind I had read."What were you thinking about?" he asked the man aloud.

The man looked up with a confused look on his face. "Uh...that I don't like being in planes?" he said questioningly.

Dr. Selvig's eyes went wide as he looked back at me. "Clint! Come quickly!"

Clint? Who the hell was Clint? But then Hawkeye walked over and it clicked into place. So _that_ was Clint. "Yes, Dr. Selvig?"

"Think about something but don't tell us what it is." Clint just looked up at Selvig like he was insane, but then nodded. "Okay, girl, read his mind."

I cast a glare at the old man, scowling again. _"My name is Emerald."_ I snapped at him.

"Just do it!"

I rolled my eyes and did I was told, letting my mind wander around until it found Clint's. I tried to read his mind but it was like a wall was standing in my way. I couldn't get passed it. Angrily, I imagined myself hitting and kicking the wall, and to my surprise it fell away.

_'What the hell is going on now? I swear if this girl causes any more trouble-'_

_'You'll what? Kill me?'_ I thought to him, narrowing my eyes.

His expression went blank for a moment, hiding his shock. _'You can hear my thoughts?'_ he asked hesitantly. I just nodded.

"She's talking to you, isn't she?" Selvig asked, grinning. Clint just nodded, his wide eyes never leaving me. "It's the tesseract."

"What else can she do?'

Selvig shrugged, still grinning like a kid who had just discovered a lost toy. "I don't know. Only time will tell."

"We don't have time, Doctor. Can't you run tests or something?"

"Clint, I'm an astrophysicist, not a medical doctor. I don't have the right equipment for human testing."

"Well you need to figure something out soon. Loki will want to know what the girl is capable of."

_'My name is Emerald.'_ I thought to Clint with a roll of my eyes.

Clint just ignored me. "He'll want to know how to open the portal with the cube still inside of her."

I raised an eyebrow then. _'Excuse me? What portal?'_

"To bring the chituari to Earth." he finally answered. "They're going to help Loki take over Earth in exchange for the tesseract. And, if we can't get it out, you too."

My other eyebrow raised to join the other one as my eyes widened. _'Excuse me! I'm not opening a portal for anybody and I'm not going with those chituari things either.'_

"Nobody asked you if you would."

_'You can't make me.'_

"That's what you said about us taking you with us to get Loki. Now look where you are."

_'I don't care. I'll do anything not to open that portal. I like earth without it being invaded by chituari people and Loki.'_

"I don't believe you have a choice." He looked over at Selvig then. "Figure out how to access the tesseract. We'll be at the heli-carrier in a half hour." And with that he walked off to the front of the jet, standing in between the pilot and co-pilot's seat.

Selvig sighed and looked down at me with something like pity in his eyes. "Sorry, have to follow orders." he said quietly before walking over to a table bolted to the floor on the other side of the jet. He picked up a metal pole, one about six inches long, and flipped a switch on it, the end sparking with blue electricity.

My eyes went wide and I started to panic again. My heart was pounding in my chest as he walked back towards me and I struggled against my bonds. _'What are you going to do to me?'_

"Electricity makes the tesseract's energy spike."

_'So you're going to electrocute me?!'_

_"_I'm sorry."


	6. Chapter 6

I sat there in the chair, gasping for breath around my gag. I was covered in sweat-again- and I had burn marks from where the electric tipped pole had touched my skin. My head was buzzing and I couldn't really think straight. I was seeing three of everything and my body ws stinging all over. My head was hung, I didn't have the strength to keep it up now.

Selvig reached the pole towards me again and all I could do was flinch and blink back tears. Enough had already rolled down my cheeks, they didn't need to see any more. "Selvig, that's enough." I heard someone say through my ringing ears. "We're almost there." It took me a while to realize it had been Clint.

The three Selvig's nodded and switched off the pole, the electric sparks on the end of it fading away. I relaxed, my head sinking a little lower. "We're going to need more electricity next time." Selvig told Clint, and I heard someone whimper. Only too late did I realize it had been me. Next time? They wanted to try this again?

_'Please don't' _I thought to Selvig weakly.

He looked back at me and frowned slightly. "Sorry, girl."

I narrowed my half open eyes at him, irritated by how he kept calling me a girl. _'My name is Emerald.' _I snarled as forcefully as I could, which-sadly-wasn't much.

I could feel something different about Selvig's mind this time, something that seemed to be controlling him. I felt something inside me give a tug then, something foreign and powerful and new to my body. _The tesseract._ Selvig's eyes went wide and I could tell he knew that I now knew that the tesseract was controlling him.

_'Help.'_ I heard him whisper before his thoughts were whisked away and reigned back into the tesseract's submission.

I closed my eyes and pushed farther into his mind. I could feel the tesseract there, but the source of his control wasn't there. It was somewhere else. _'I have you now.'_ I thought to the energy controlling Selvig. _'I'm in control of you, not this Loki man. You're mine.'_

The tesseract did not like that at all. _'You are mine!' _I heard a voice hiss before a wave of energy washed over me. I imagined myself throwing a net over the tesseract's energy and dragging it out of Selvig, giving him control of his own mind again. As I struggled to contain this new energy I heard someone collapse on the floor, but then laugh and exclaim something about freedom.

All the sudden pain exploded in my chest and I fell sideways off the jet seat, my eyes flying open and the control of the energy gone. I felt it leave me and Selvig screamed. It had gotten back to him. Tears sprung to my eyes again as I rolled onto my back, gasping for air that had been knocked out of me. Which, by the way, kind of hard with a gag in my mouth.

"The tesseract stays in control." Hawkeye snarled before opening the hatch at the back of the jet and standing at the edge. I watched him pull an arrow from his quiver and aim it at a huge flying boat, the kind the military use to hold planes and stuff. I think they were called air craft carriers, but at the moment I wasn't really concerned with it. He pulled the bowstring back and let it go, the arrow flying through the air and landing in one of the ship's huge engines. Nothing happened.

_'Really? That's it? That didn't do anything.' _I thought to him smugly.

He held out his bow and pressed a button on it, and next thing I know the engine blew up. My eyes went wide and Hawkeye turned to the pilot. "Get us down there." The pilot nodded and turned the plane towards the landing strip, the other men on the plane preparing to disembark.

All of this was very odd to watch, however. I still was lying on my side from when Hawkeye had kicked me out of my seat. Watching everything sideways wasn't the optimal way to watch a scenario like this. I heard footsteps ahead of me and looked up to see Hawkeye walking towards me. Before I could move, he grabbed the bungee chord around my wrists and lifted me up, painfully stretching my shoulders.

He shoved me towards one of the black clad men. "Throw her down to me." The man just nodded.

My eyes went wide and I weakly struggled against the man's grip. _'Throw me?!'_

But Hawkeye had already jumped down onto the other ship. The man lifted me up and walked to the edge of the hatch, counting to three before throwing me. My stomach lurched and I screamed as I fell through the air, only to land in Hawkeye's arms. He set me down on my feet and roughly grabbed my arm, leading me towards an entrance while the rest of his men jumped out of the plane and followed after us.

We reached the door and he flung it open before leading me inside. I watched as he shot down people, leading me deeper into the ship. All the sudden he grabbed my neck, pulling me up so my toes barely touched the floor. I coughed and gasped, feeling his hand start to choke me. I couldn't even try to pull his hands away, mine were tied behind my back.

"Use the tesseract to locate Loki's staff. I already know where they'll be holding Loki, but he'll be no good to us if we can't find his staff."

With wide eyes I just nodded. _'I'll do it. Just let me go.'_ I pleaded.

He pushed me away then. "Hurry up." And then he walked over to the end of the hall, keeping guard so I could search for the staff.

I closed my eyes and let my mind wander over the ship, trying to find an energy source similar to the tesseract. It took a minute or two but soon the tesseract tugged my mind past halls and into a place called the science wing. There were people in there, some dressed in funny outfits, but they were quickly scattering to go find out what the hell was going on. And some woman-I think the news called her the Black Widow- was trapped under a pipe. Another man was having some sort of break down next to her, but my attention was pulled to a thing resting on one of the tables.

It was a big golden staff with a blade at the end, a stone in it glowing blue and beckoning to the tesseract. Finally I pulled back to my body and looked over at Clint. _'The staff is in the science wing.'_

Clint just nodded and grabbed my arm again, dragging me down the halls.


	7. Chapter 7

He dragged me through the plane, taking a pit stop at the control room to drop off some goons and shoot an arrow into their computer systems. The entire time he had a goon pointed a loaded and cocked gun at my forehead, threatening that if he found out I had mentally contacted someone he'd have the guy blow my brains out. So I kept my thoughts quiet I liked my brains inside my head, thanks. Have you ever had someone aiming a gun at your forehead while being captive among a highly dangerous mind controlled government agent? It's not fun.

There were gunshots fired at Hawkeye and he pulled away from the window, grabbing my arm again and leading me away. I had to practically run to keep up with him. We didn't take the main hallways, but the back catwalks that the crew used to keep the plane running. Now we were in a dark hall, pipes on either side of the metal catwalk. His footsteps were light and quiet, but mine were stomping and loud as I clumsily kept up with him. I was also hoping someone would hear them and come help me.

I don't know if it was because she heard my footsteps, but a lady jumped down from a pipe above us and in between Clint and I. I backed up from the lady who I now recognized as the Black Widow, watching as Clint wheeled around, simultaneously pulling an arrow from his quiver and loading it onto his bow string. Widow moved out of the way and when Clint let the arrow loose it headed straight towards me. I think it was kind of on purpose. It he couldn't keep me to have for Loki, nobody could have me.

It seemed to happen in slow motion. The arrow flew off the bowstring, heading straight for my gut. I couldn't move though, I was frozen, watching my death come at me. My mind was screaming at me to run, and finally I snapped out of it. By now the arrow was too close, I couldn't move, couldn't duck. I needed to protect myself though, needed to keep myself alive.

That's when a blue energy sphere surrounded me, incinerating the arrow as it tried to collide with me. A force field. I just stood there, watching the blue tesseract energy pulse around me, eyes even wider then they had been before. Had I put this up, unconsciously, or had the tesseract put it up? But why would the tesseract want to protect me? Surely I had done it, right? This knowledge made me giddy with wonder and excitement, and I soon lost what little grip on the energy I had. The force field flickered out and left me exposed, my smile fading as I watched Clint push Natasha away and lunge for me.

His hands reached for me, about to close around my body, when something was thrown around his neck and yanked him back, like a dog on a chain. "RUN!" Widow shouted to me, and I didn't hesitate to follow her order.

I turned and ran back down the catwalk, turning right at the end of it and running into one of the main halls again. I just ran, not caring where I was going, as long as I was heading away from Clint and towards a real S.H.I.E.L.D person, someone who was supposed to be the good guy, supposed to be helping me.

Ahead of me in the hallway, suddenly the left wall exploded, a man flying through as well. He moaned and then rolled over, starting to push himself up. He was dressed oddly, in green and black, and a gold staff lay on the floor beside him. My eyes went wide and I turned around to run again. It was Loki. Just the staff told me who it was.

I ran a few feet then looked back to see if he was following me. But turns out, he wasn't there. Brows furrowing, I stopped and turned around to see if he was hiding. Kind of hard in an empty hallway, but still possible. But nope, he wasn't there. Maybe he'd run off to find Clint, or to terrorize some people. Or just escape. After all, he had been imprisoned here as far as I could remember.

"Looking for someone?" a voice asked.

A voice that sent chills of fear down my back, and strangely, something other than fear. The voice was silky smooth and confident, yet dangerous, like a knife dangling over me, ready to drop and kill me at any second. I slowly turned around to see Loki standing there, and I yelped, jumping back. How had he done that? He chuckled and walked closer, seeing my obvious fear, causing me to step back.

"You have something that belongs to me." he said, before reaching out a hand and grabbing my green tank top, pulling me to him. "Something right here." he hissed, his knuckles brushing the skin above my heart. I gulped, my heart beating so fast and hard that he surely could hear it. "I know you have it. I can sense it inside of you. How did this happen, may I ask? How did you come to acquire my precious power?"

He lifted a hand up, I thought to hit me, and I flinched. _'It fell out of Clint and Selvig's jet, and it hit me. For some reason it melding to me in it's raw form or something and now Selvig doesn't know how to get it out. Something like that, I don't know. Don't hit me.'_ I thought hurriedly, not wanting his hand to touch me. I was shaking under his intense blue gaze, the same blue as the tesseract, as Clint and Selvig's eyes. He was controlled too?

He paused then, looking me over with slightly narrowed eyes. "The tesseract...gave you powers? How very interesting." He gave me a once over. "You're so young, so much life ahead of you. It is such a shame that I have to kill you. You must understand, darling. I need my tesseract back."

I started to struggle in his grasp, only to have him throw me onto the floor, landing painfully on my back and arms. He stood over me, scepter blade poised right above my heart, ready to kill me. The staff started to glow brighter, the tesseract humming inside of me, drawn to it almost.

"I, Loki of Asgard, rightful king to the throne and to-be ruler of the universe, hereby reclaim the tesseract for all that is wrong and unjust . I spill thy blood to take what is mine."

And then he plunged the staff down at my chest. I screamed, though it was muffled by my gag, and the tesseract screamed too. The tip of his staff's blade pierced my skin, cutting it and a trickle of blood running down my chest. As he tried to press it deeper the tesseract roared and exploded, blinding blue energy spreading out from me and sending Loki flying back.

The energy lasted a few more seconds and then was just gone, like a switch had flipped off. I blinked my eyes a few times, trying to get my vision back to normal, and then looked over at Loki. He looked like he'd been hit with a nuke. My body was burning again, rejecting the tesseract's vast amount of energy, trying to get the remnants of it to go away too. I groaned and struggled to roll over onto my stomach, gathering my legs underneath me and sitting up. I could hear Loki doing the same behind me.

"So you can obtrude into people's minds, and destroy thing with the tesseract's glorious power? My, my, what else can you do?" It was one of those questions that wasn't supposed to be answered.

_'I can make force fields.' _I thought to him.

"Let's test that then, shall we?" He aimed his staff at me again, the gem glowing brighter than it had the first time he tried to stab me, when all the sudden I heard shouts and footsteps coming from where Loki had blast through the wall earlier. I looked over my shoulder to see real S.H.I.E.L.D agents and Director Nick Fury walk into the hallway, guns aimed at Loki. Mr. Fury was holding a special one though, one made of some silvery metal, one that had it's barrel glowing a bright orange. It looked heavy.

"Put the scepter down, Loki. We've got you."

Loki looked up at them and then smirked, it's message taunting and dangerous. "Almost." And then he was gone, poofed away like he'd never been there in the first place.


	8. Chapter 8

The agents lowered their weapons and some went off to search for Loki as Mr. Fury handed his big gun to another agent and walked over to me. He reached out and pulled the gag down from my mouth. I sighed with relief and stretched my jaw around, feeling the skin around my mouth and cheeks raw and stinging.

"Who are you, and what did Loki want you as?" he asked as he unbound my wrists. I winced, holding back a cry, as my stiff muscles worked back into their normal position. I looked down at my wrists, seeing them bruised and raw as well.

I opened my mouth to try and tell him what happened, but my voice came out as some hoarse, scratchy noise. I cleared my throat and tried again, having success but my voice still scratchy sounding. "I was trail riding yesterday, and when I stopped to take a break I fell asleep. When I woke up it was night time and a jet was flying overhead. I didn't think anything of it until I saw this blue light falling from it. By time I realized it was heading for me it was too late. It hit me and then..." I blinked, trying to blink away the memory of the pain. "I passed out. When I woke up this morning I was in an empty hotel room and when I called out Hawkeye and Dr. Selvig walked in. They told me the blue glowy thing that hit me had been the tesseract. Something about it being in it's raw form, and Selvig can't get it out." I shook my head. "I can't really remember. But they told me Loki could take it out of me so they brought me with them here."

"So they brought you here to have the tesseract removed by Loki?"

I just nodded.

"How do I know you're not lying? This could be set up by them." he said skeptically, eying me with his one good eye.

I closed my eyes then, looking for Fury's mind. I finally found it, and though I had a bit of trouble entering, I finally did. I melded my mind to his, and thought about sharing the memories with him, the ones from last night when the tesseract hit me, and the ones from this morning when Selvig had told me about it. '_Does that prove it?'_ I asked him mentally, pulling away from his mind a little.

I could feel his surprise, though his expression remained blank. _'Is that all you can do?'_

'_No. I can make force fields too. And I can shoot out the energy if I call on it, but it's dangerous and painful. I can't control it.'_

He was silent for a moment and I just pulled away from his mind completely. "When was the last time you ate?"

"Yesterday, at breakfast."

He nodded. "Someone go get some food from the cafeteria, bring it down to the Medical Bay." An agent nodded and scurried off.

"My name is Emerald, by the way. Emerald Anna-Marie Jones."

"Alright, Miss Jones." He gave me a once over, looking clearly disturbed about this whole situation. "You look pretty banged up, so let's get you down the Medical Bay." I nodded and started following him back through the plane. "Do you mind me asking what they did to you?"

I sighed, shaking my head. "It's okay, I figured I'd have to tell you eventually. Well, first I got hit with that cube thing, then when I tried to escape Clint threw me and I hit my head pretty hard. And then he punched me-"

"On your cheek?"

I nodded. "Is it that obvious? The bruise, I mean?" He just shrugged, but I could tell the answer was yes. "And then he gagged me, and tied my wrists, and then Selvig was electrocuting me. Something about trying to access the tesseract's energy from inside me. Oh, and right before that they dragged me up seven flights of stairs."

Fury just nodded as I spoke, his expression darkening. "Hm." was all he said for the moment.

"The tesseract, it's controlling Clint and Selvig."

"We know."

"It's controlling Loki, too."

This was news to him. He raised his eyebrows ever so slightly. "Really?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I could feel it. His staff doesn't affect him, but the tesseract, it connects to everybody."

"Is it connected to you?"

I looked at him like he was crazy. I was about to say "Well duh!" but then I realized I was talking to Mr. Fury. "It's not controlling me. I'm still me, but it's always there. I can feel it. It hurts a little, it stings."

"We'll try and get it out as safely as possible, okay?"

I nodded eagerly, wishing to get this thing out as soon as possible. All the sudden an idea popped into my head and I frowned a little, the corners of my lips pulling down. "What if you can't get it out though?"

"One step at a time, Miss Jones. Though I assure you, our medical team and scientists are some of the best in the world. We'll help you." He continued to lead me through the plane boat thing, and finally we reached the Medical Bay.

It looked like a mini hospital, all white and sterile looking. It smelled like chemicals and I could hear the sad sounds of people moaning. "From the attack?" I asked Fury as we passed a few rooms with injured people inside.

He nodded. He escorted me to a room, telling the nurse to send for the head doctor and lead scientist on board. He then unclipped a radio from his belt and turned it on. "Agent Hill."

"Yes, Sir?" a woman's voice replied.

"I need the smallest pair of woman's clothing you can find on board."

"Sir?"

"And bring a hairbrush."

"Sir? What do you need that for?"

"Just bring it down to the Medical Bay. I'll explain when you get here."

The woman on the other end sighed. "Yes, Sir."

And then the radio conference was over and Fury clipped it back to his belt, his brows furrowing as he started to think. I wondered about what, but I wasn't going to pick through his brain. Two people walked into the room then, one woman dressed in a white doctor's coat, and the other a man in a scientist lab coat. Fury filled them in on the situation, telling them that it must remain private until further notice.

"She'll need medical attention first," he said to the doctor. "and afterwards we'll need to take a blood sample and get her x-rayed and cat scanned." he said to the scientist. They nodded, and the doctor got to work first while the scientist guy went and got a mini lap set up in the back corner of the room.

"You've got yourself in quite the predicament there, Emerald." the doctor said to me.

"Yeah, I guess."

"I'm Dr. Rosenburg; I'll be your doctor for your stay with us." She looked me over and then started to treat my raw skin and burn marks, her hands gentle as they attended to my slight wounds. She seemed nice, her brown eyes kind and her blonde hair pulled back into a pony tail. She was young, maybe in her late twenties or early thirties. "I'm sorry sweetie, there's nothing I can do for the bruises. Lucky for you, nothing is too serious." she said as she finished up.

"It's okay." I said, and she moved out of the way to go tell Fury about my condition. The scientist stepped up then, not bothering to tell me his name, or even speak to me. He just took a blood sample, the needle pinching the crook of my elbow and making me wince. "I hate needles." I muttered. That made him smile. Finally, he was done and that was that.

"I need to get the radiation x-ray and the cat scan ready, I'll notify you when we're ready."

Fury nodded and the two of them were dismissed. They walked out, and in stepped a woman. Tall, brunette, a wound on her forehead that had since been cleaned up, dressed in a black S.H.I.E.L.D outfit. She took one look at me and then looked at Fury like he was insane.

"Sir, if this isn't too out of line, what the hell is she doing here?"

"Agent, Hill, just give Miss Jones the clothes."

Still looking pretty confused, she did as she was told. He continued to explain the situation again, and I sat there looking at the clothes. It was a size two pair of skinny jeans, probably her size (she was the size of a twig), and a black S.H.I.E.L.D polo shirt. No socks, no shoes. Great.

"Miss Jones?" I looked up to Fury then. "Agent Hill will take you to your room, you need to shower and change. I'll have Agent Hill come back for you in a half hour. We have to get this sorted out as soon as possible."

I just sighed and nodded. "Okay." The trip to my room as as silent as a grave, and awkward. Miss Hill kept glancing at me, like I was weird or something, like I didn't belong here, like she didn't know what to make of me. I just ignored her. I'd be gone soon anyways, so what did it matter. Finally we were at my room and I wordlessly closed the door behind me, surveying the plain white walls and white floors. The room was small, but it had it's own bathroom.

I eagerly got in the shower, in there for a good twenty minutes just scrubbing off and sitting there, letting the warm water wash over me, relaxing my tense muscles. I also, just a tiny bit, hoped that somehow the water would wash away the past two days. I didn't have any luck. I got out and dried off, got dressed, and then put on the clothes which were slightly too big.

Two minutes later there was a knock on the door and when I opened it Miss Hill was there. "Fury is expecting you."

"Lead the way."


	9. Chapter 9

I followed Miss Hill through the plane, ending up in a huge conference room. One with a huge mahogany table -that instantly reminded me of the Hunger Games and Effie Trinket-, a sleek black metal floor, and the entire back wall was made up of windows that overlooked the sky and clouds. I tried not to look too awed by the sight outside the window. Finally, I tore my eyes away from the window and looked to the table. Sitting at the the head of the table was Mr. Fury. To his right was a short man with curly brown hair, who seemed to be covered in dust, Black Widow, and Hawkeye. Miss Hill sat down at the end of that line.

On the other side of the table was...oh my gosh...could it be? I blinked, trying to see if my eyes were playing tricks on me. They weren't. On the other side of the table was Tony Stark-IRON MAN!-, Captain America -CAPTAIN FREAKING AMERICA!-, and some hot blonde dude wearing a red cape and dressed in weird armor. He looked like he'd just rolled around in the dirt. Dust man and dirt boy. Did people here have a problem with good hygiene?

I guess I looked pretty shocked and amazed because Tony chuckled and pulled a sharpie out of his pocket. "Close your mouth kid. I get enough of that outside of S.H.I.E.L.D. Now come here and get your autograph and then skidaddle, we've got stuff to talk about."

I closed my jaw, not even realizing that it had dropped. "Stark, that won't be necessary." Fury said, motioning for me to come sit down next to him. "She's part of this meeting." Everybody except Widow and Hawkeye looked confused.

I also noticed that Hawkeye seemed back to normal now. His eyes weren't glowing, I couldn't feel a pull on the tesseract anymore, and he wasn't trying to kill anybody. I waved to him as I sat down, but he just frowned and looked away. I didn't want to go prying around in his mind or anything, but what was wrong? Maybe Widow would know.

So instead, I pried around in her mind. On the outside she was strictly business, but on the inside she was worried, really worried, about Clint. She liked him, no doubt about it. The worry was so over whelming and the need to just be there for him. I pushed aside her thoughts and tried to see what she knew about Clint. And then there it was. A little memory.

_"How many?" Clint asked. "How many did I-"_

_"Don't. Don't do that to yourself, Clint."_

_He sighed, looking away from her. "What about the girl? Did Loki get her?"_

_"I don't know. We'll find out soon, though. I'm sure she's fine."_

_"I doubt it." He took the cup of water she held out and took a sip. "I let Selvig electrocute her. Over, and over, and over." He squeezed his eyes shut. "And I hit her. I tied her up, gagged her, choked her, threatened her." He looked up at Widow as if he were trying to hold himself together. "Natasha, she's just a kid. I should've of fought Loki's power harder, I shouldn't have done what I did."_

_Natasha put a hand on his cheek, frowning. "Clint, there was nothing you could have done. You fought as hard as you could and now you're back and that's all that matters. The girl's going to be okay, Clint. It's not your fault that you did that. You weren't in control of yourself."_

_"She's going to be scared of me. She won't trust me, and once the others find out, neither will they."_

_"You don't know that, yet. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, okay?"_

I pulled away from Natasha's mind then and frowned as I looked over at Clint. He thought I would be scared of him? Well maybe I was when he was being controlled, but he was a good guy again. And like Natasha said, it wasn't his fault. I made a mental note to talk to Clint later.

While I had been poking around in Natasha's mind, Fury had stood up and turned off the lights, the windows turning dark and a satellite image being projected onto them. Fury handed out two files to the two groups of heroes, one for each side of the table, and when they opened it my last school picture was paper clipped to the inside flap. Good thing it had been a good one.

"Why does she have a file?" Dust Man asked.

Fury just zoomed in on the image on the screen, a blue glow on the image. "Last night, at approximately 8:19 p.m, Agent Barton's jet flew over a remote forest just outside Savannah, Georgia. The tesseract fell from the jet, tumbling a few thousand feet to crash land on Miss Jones." He gestured to me and their eyes lifted from the file to look at me. I wished I could hide. "While searching for the tesseract Barton and Selvig found Miss Jones, unconscious and glowing with the tesseract's energy. They kept Miss Jones in their care until both Barton and Miss Jones were brought here." He clicked a button on a remote and the image on the screen changed to a picture of my blood cells, little blue energy wisps floating around in it. "After reviewing a blood sample from Miss Jones, we have found radioactive material in her body, believed to be the tesseract, which has decomposed into it's raw form."

Everybody's eyes went wide, especially Dust Man's. He pulled a pair of glasses from his pocket and put them on, squinting at the screen. He looked like he was concentrating really hard. "Is it really the tesseract?"

"Yes it is." Fury said with a nod.

"How is that possible?" Dirt Boy asked, leaning forward and looking slightly angry. "How will the cube get back to Asgard if it's inside this girl?"

"My name is Emerald." I said quietly, and the huge man's piercing blue eyes flickered to me.

"We don't know yet." Fury answered the man. "We will do all we can to try and remove the cube from Miss Jones, as long as it is safe.

"Can't it kill her though?" Captain America asked, looking genuinely worried and a bit.. scared, maybe?

"It should have killed her on impact." Dust Man answered. "It should have killed her when it hit her, and if not then, then when it was started to go into it's raw form. And if not then, then it should have started to mutate her cells, giving her tumors, maybe incinerating her insides, maybe giving her cancer even."

My eyes went wide. "I'm going to have cancer?!"

Fury scowled. "Dr. Banner, please." So Dust Man had a name. "We already have a cat scan, x-ray, and radiation screening scheduled. I would like you to lead the research team in this. Figure out why it hasn't killed her and how to remove it." Dr. Banner nodded. "The rest of you, I would appreciate it if you kept an eye on Miss Jones. Loki could be back at any time; we need to be prepared. Now, I'll leave you all to introductions; I have other matters to attend to."

He shut off the projector and turned on the lights, the windows going back to normal. "Wait, Mr. Fury?" He looked down at me with his one good eye. "You forgot to tell them about the other stuff." I whispered to him. "You know, the force fields and stuff."

He sighed. "I don't think they need to know about -"

"Don't need to know about what?" Tony asked, leaning back in his seat.

Fury sighed and turned back to the group. "The tesseract has left behind some...side effects."

"Like?"

"Like pain, force fields, large outputs of the tesseract's energy, and telepathic powers." Dr. Banner opened his mouth to speak, probably to ask more questions. "No, she can not control the tesseract's energy fully, not even close. And Stark, the tesseract does not -to our knowledge- react to Miss Jones' anger. So don't try to scare her and _don't_ poke her with anything."

Tony's face dropped. The others just smirked or chuckled or laughed, as if this were amusing. I was the only one who didn't understand.


	10. Chapter 10

We all just sat there after Fury left, not quite sure what to do. Tony was playing around on his phone, Banner was looking over my file, Captain America was over there pouting, and Clint and Natasha sat there absolutely stone faced.

"So, the tesseract gave you powers?" Banner asked, breaking the silence.

I shrugged. "I guess."

"Can you show us?" Tony asked.

"Tony, that's just as bad as trying to get Dr. Banner to-" Cap started to say, but Tony just looked at him, as if to say _Do I look like I care?_

I opened my mouth to say no, but it was Tony Stark. How could I say no to him? Hiding a grin, I closed my eyes and searched for the tesseract. I found the main source of it, circling around my heart, and latched onto it. I imagined the glowing blue energy surrounding myself, and when I opened my eyes, it was, a small rush of energy washing through me.

Their eyes went wide and I just smiled. _'I can't hold it much longer.'_ I thought to them, and their eyes went even wider.

"Wow." was all Tony had to say.

"I don't like this." the big blonde brute said.

Cap shook his head. "Me either."

"I don't think any of us do." Banner said with a sigh, running a hand through his hair.

"Um...I don't mean this in a rude way," I started to say. "but who are you?" I asked the blonde man, whose name was still a mystery to me.

"I am Thor Odinson, prince of Asgard."

I raised an eyebrow. "Thor? Is that like your superhero name or something?"

He seemed confused by my question. "No, that is my name."

"Thor Odinson is the Norse god of thunder." I said with narrowed eyes. "You know, Thor's Day, can control storms, isn't real, all that jazz."

"Of course I am real. I am sitting here before you, am I not?"

"Miss Jones?" Tony asked, smirking.

"Call me Emerald."

He leaned towards me a little and then nodded, leaning back in his seat. "Mhm. I see, it matches your eyes. Anyways, he is Thor. _The_ Thor. He's not kidding. And Loki, is _the_ Loki. God of Mischief, all that "jazz" as you called it."

"Loki? That's _that_ Loki? So you're telling me that two fictional characters are suddenly real and one of them is trying to kill me?"

"Thor" seemed to go pale. "He tried to kill you?"

"Yeah, earlier. But anyways, how is that possible? You guys are...myths." Tony just shrugged and I looked towards Dr. Banner. He was the scientist, he was supposed to know this stuff. But nope. He just shrugged too. I looked to Thor again, my eyes narrowing again, and I spotted something by his feet. A huge, heavy looking metal hammer with a Norse trinity symbol on it. "Mjolnir?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. Thor nodded, smiling proudly. I eyed his outfit, gleaming silver armor without sleeves -which by the way, showed off huge biceps-, a velvety scarlet cape, and black pants with knee high boots.

I grinned then, leaning back in my seat and holding back a giggle. "Oh my gosh." I whispered to myself.

Natasha just raised an eyebrow at me, looking at me like I was insane. "Are you...alright?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. It's just...here's little nobody me, sitting in a room with the Norse god of thunder, Tony Stark, Captain America, and two of the most famous S.H.I.E.L.D agents ever known! I'm a huge fan of all of you! Just thought I'd throw that in there."

"What about Bruce?" Tony asked, gesturing towards Dr. Banner. Bruce Banner, it sounded like a name from a story or something.

"I don't know who he is." I said with an apologetic glance towards Bruce.

Tony chuckled and smirked again, as if he knew something I didn't. "Oh, yes you do." I could see Cap rolling his eyes. "He's the Hulk. You know, big green monster who destroyed Harlem."

My eyes went wide and I turned to Bruce. "Oh my gosh! You're that guy?!" He looked down at the table and nodded, as if he were embarassed. "You're so cool! I'm a huge fan of the way you turn into an enormous green rage monster!"

Tony grinned and held out a hand for me to high five and I high fived it. "I said the exact same thing! I like you, kid."

"So, you're pretty smart." Bruce said, trying to change the subject. "All A's and B's in school, track team for two years, drama club, horse back riding, acting, singing in talent shows. Is there anything you don't do?"

"I don't dance." I said, wrinkling my nose. And it was true. Last time I tried to dance, I almost killed myself. "Do you guys know how long I'll be staying here?"

Nobody answered.

"What about Loki? When will he be back? He needs the tesseract to open a portal or something. Can he even open it with the cube inside me?"

Thor shrugged. "We don't know. Loki is unpredictable."

"Do you really think he'll kill me?"

Again, nobody answered. Some of them didn't even look at me. But those who did had pity and sympathy in their eyes. Except Natasha. She was blank. But the answer was yes. Loki would kill me, if he had the chance. If. I was determined not to give him that chance, no matter what it took.

"Okay, well can somebody take me to the cafeteria? I haven't eaten anything since yesterday at lunch and I'm starving. The person Fury sent to get me food never came back."

Captain America stood up, shrugging. "Sure, why not. Anybody else want to come?"

"I shall. I'm hungry." Thor said, standing up and towering above everybody else.

"You're always hungry." Tony muttered, standing up too and stretching. "Sure, I'll come. Why not, you know?"

"Sorry guys, I'll be skipping this one." Natasha said before standing up and exiting the room. I frowned a little as she walked out, Clint following after.

"I'll come, let me just go get my notebook." Bruce said, standing up and pushing in his chair before scurrying out of the room.

I sighed then and stood up as well. "Hold on, I'll be right back." I muttered to the group taking me to get some food. I hurried out of the room and then jogged to catch up with Clint and Natasha. "Mr. Clint! Wait up!" I called, and he stopped walking, glancing over his shoulder at me. Natasha stopped a few feet ahead of him, turning back to watch us.

"Just Clint is fine." he said, his expression as blank as Natasha's. How did they do that?

"Okay, Clint, listen. I didn't mean too, but I kinda sorta peeked around in Natasha's mind." I glanced over at Natasha. "Sorry." She looked pretty annoyed. "Anyways, I know you feel bad about what happened, but it's okay. Don't feel bad. Please? I mean it's not your fault and I'm not mad at you, or scared."

He looked a bit surprised. "But...I..."

"I know, I know. But it's not your fault, and I won't tell anybody about what happened. I'm not scared of you or mad, you weren't in control of yourself, so you don't have to act all weird around me. Okay?"

He furrowed his eyebrows. "I'm acting weird?" He glanced back at Natasha and she nodded. "Oh...well...thanks, Emerald."

"You finally remembered my name." I said with a small smile before glancing back towards the conference room. "Okay, well they're waiting for me so I'll see you guys around." We said our goodbyes and then went our separate ways.

The conversation had been a bit awkward between Clint and I, but honestly I was glad we had it. I didn't want him to feel bad over something he had no control over. And I didn't want him thinking I was mad at him, or scared. Because I wasn't, not anymore. I felt a bit better now that I cleared things up with him, and I hoped he did too.


	11. Chapter 11

I walked back to the conference room and opened the door, poking my head in. "Okay, somebody want to lead the way?"

Thor nodded eagerly and strode forward. "I will, I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry." Captain America mumbled.

"Well I'm bigger than you mere mortals are. I need more sustenance."

"And ale too, apparently." Tony added with a smirk. "Speaking of which, I could use a glass of liquor right now. Maybe two, or three."

"As could I." Thor agreed with a nod as we walked down to the cafeteria.

"You two shouldn't drink on the job." Cap said.

"Excuse me, but we've been through this. This isn't a job. This is a gig, a one time thing. One that I'm not even being paid for."

"Oh yes, I forgot, Tony Stark can't be tied down to anything."

"Are you guys always like this?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Thor just nodded, chuckling. "Indeed, Tiny Maiden. They argue like two...well, never mind. Coul...a friend of mine said those creatures do not exist here." He looked down at the ground then, frowning.

"Who?" I asked.

"Coulson, a friend of ours. Loki killed him." Cap said quietly.

I frowned as well, looking away from them. "Oh. I'm so sorry." They didn't say anything. "Well what creatures were you talking about?" I asked Thor.

"No matter, Tiny Maiden."

I looked up at Thor-way up- a little bit annoyed. "I'm not tiny."

They looked down at me like I was crazy. Now, looking back on it, I was tiny compared to them. Thor stood at least a foot and a half taller than me, Cap at least almost a foot, and Tony maybe half a foot. I _was_ tiny.

"Kid, I'm not the biggest person here and you're small compared to even me." Tony said with a smirk.

"My name is Emerald." I reminded him. "My name isn't kid, it isn't girl, it's Emerald." Why did nobody ever call me by my name?

Tony smirked again, holding back a laugh. "Okay, okay. Sorry." His smirk grew a little bigger. "Kid."

"Tony." Cap said, giving him a look that warned him to stop.

"Oh relax, Spangly. At least I'm not poking her with anything."

I sighed, scowling a little. I wanted to pull my hair out right about now. "Is there really any need for this pointless banter? It's annoying." I snapped.

"Well so are you." Tony said, looking over his shoulder at me. I stopped in my tracks, feeling like I'd been punched in the gut. "You just complicate things. You're in the way, you're a nuisance. Do you honestly think that any of us want to sit around baby sitting you? It's bad enough that we have to deal with Loki, but now you too?" He shook his head, rolling his eyes.

I started to shake, feeling hot tears prick the back of my eyes. I knew what he said was true, I wasn't supposed to be here, but why did he have to say it? I looked up to him, and to have him say that to me...it was crushing. "You think I want this?" I asked quietly. "I didn't ask for this. I don't want this." I clenched my fists, my voice raising to a shout. "I might as well just go kill myself! It's much easier to take something from a dead body! Then you and Loki can go back to trying to destroy each other and nobody will be in your way!" I took a breath, glaring at him with all the hate I could muster. "Everybody always says you're a jerk, but I didn't think you'd be one to someone who idolizes you." I spat before turning on my heel and walking away, Tony's face pale and his brown eyes wide.

"Emerald, wait!" Cap called, his footsteps echoing behind me.

"Nice going, Metal Man." Thor growled.

"I didn't mean it, I was just..." I couldn't hear the rest of Tony's defense, I was too far away and I had started to cry, the hot tears burning down my cheeks.

"Emerald, wait! Please!" Cap called, his voice closer this time.

I turned down a hallway, not knowing where I was going but not really caring. Finally, he caught up to me, grabbing me firmly by the arm and turning me to face him. "What do you want?" I snapped, but my voice came out less harsh than I intended it to.

"Don't listen to what Tony says. He doesn't think before he says anything and he says that stuff to everybody. Don't take it personally, that's just how he is."

"But he's right." I whispered, sniffling and looking up at Cap as my vision started to clear a little. "Nobody here cares, all they want is the tesseract. I'm just in the way, I shouldn't be here."

"It'll take some extra work, but we'll figure it out. We'll help you."

"Because it's your job, not because you want to. I'd be better off dead."

"Don't say that."

"But it's true." I pulled away from him as the tears started to fall faster, turning away and starting to walk off. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go find a knife or a gun."

He grabbed my arm again, his grip tighter, and snatched me back. "Don't you dare." He growled. "How could you even think about that? You have your whole life ahead of you."

"Not really! I've become involved with S.H.I.E.L.D. Do you not know them? Once you're involved, there's never a way to become uninvolved. I'll be stuck with them forever if they can't get this out of me. I'll be locked up or they'll want to have someone always watching me. And even if I can get out of here, people will think I'm weird, that I'm a mutant. Mutants and people with powers are outcasted, beaten, _killed._ I have no future with this thing. My life will be hell! What do I have to look forward to?"

Cap just looked down at me, pity in his eyes. He gently wiped away my tears, only to have more replace them. After a few tries, he gave up trying to wipe away the tears. "I'm sorry this happened to you. They should have left the tesseract in the bottom of the ocean. I know sorry won't help anything, but maybe I can."

I sniffled and looked up at him, eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

"Well, we're both going to be kind of...I don't know, confused? After this, we'll both need some help adjusting to normal life, or as normal as life can get for us. I'm sure you know a lot about these times, and I know a lot about the tesseract. We could help each other out."

"Do you really mean that?"

He nodded slowly. "I really mean it."

I smiled a little, wiping away my tears and finally not having any more fall. "Thanks, Cap."

He smiled back. "Call me Steve."

"That's your real name?"

He nodded again. "Steven Rogers, but everybody calls me Steve. So, are you still hungry?"

I sighed and then nodded, my stomach aching and churning. I needed food. Like, now. "But what about Tony?"

He just shook his head and put an arm around my shoulders, leading me back towards the cafeteria. "He'll come around eventually."

I just nodded, walking along silently before I furrowed my brows again. "I don't get it."

"Get what?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Why Tony is always fighting with you. According to Thor, you two fight all the time, which is stupid. His dad made you...you know, all of this." I said, gesturing to him and all his muscles. "I don't think he has any right to be fighting with and mocking you."

Steve laughed, smiling and shrugging. "Finally! Someone who agrees. I don't know, Em. I honestly don't know why Tony does what he does."


	12. Chapter 12

Steve and I walked back to the cafeteria, which looked more like a huge food court to me. There was McDonald's, Subway, Chick-fil-a, Panda Express, Taco Bell, a pizza shop, and a Cold Stone ice cream shop. Just to name a few. I had no idea what I wanted.

"What are you going to get?" I asked Steve, my stomach pinching as all the delicious smells wafted towards us.

"I don't know, what's good?" he asked with a shrug.

"Everything. Okay, here's what we'll do. I'm going to get McDonald's, because that shit is good." He looked down at me disapprovingly, raising his eyebrows. "Stuff, sorry." I said with an embarrassed smile. He seemed pleased with my corrected choice of language. "So I'll get McD's, and you get what you want, and then we can share, that way we can try a little bit of everything."

He nodded and shrugged again. "Okay, sounds good to me." His blue eyes scanned the food choices again. "I guess I'll get pizza. Is that shareable?"

I just smiled. "It is if you get two slices." I told him as if the answer was obvious. And it was. My friends and I used to do this all the time, and we always ended up getting more than enough, even though we were cutting the portions to give some out.

Steve just did one of those adorable little half smiles that all boys seem to do but don't know that they're doing it. "Okay. So, where do you want to sit?"

I surveyed the seating choices and spotted an empty table right by the window wall, blue sky and beautiful white clouds drifting along outside it. "Over there." I said, pointing to the table. "I'll meet you there when I'm out of line."

He nodded and then we went into our separate lines, which luckily were pretty short. When I got to the counter I glanced briefly at the familiar menu before finally ordering what I almost always did. "I'll take a crispy chicken honey mustard snack wrap with a large fry and a large sweet iced tea. Oh, and I'll take a chocolate chip cookie too."

The lady raised an eyebrow at me, looking at me like I was a bit weird. "Hungry much?" she snipped sarcastically.

I just scowled. "Yes, actually. I haven't eaten for almost twenty four hours."

The waitress narrowed her eyes at me. "That'll be $5.50."

I frowned then, glancing at the price and then back at the lady. "I don't have any money. Fury sent someone down here to get food for me, but they never showed up."

"Sure thing, Kid. Listen, if you can't pay I'll have to cancel your order."

"That's okay, she's with me." a familiarly cocky voice said from behind me. It was Tony. He walked over and leaned forward on the counter, flashing a smile at the register woman.

"Oh, of course, Mr. Stark. Would you like anything?"

"A double cheese burger only mayo, a large fry, and a coke."

The lady nodded and scurried off to get out food, blushing so hard her ears were the color of a tomato. I bit my lip, holding back a laugh. How embarrassing was that? If I was that stupid lady, I'd be hitting my head against a wall for acting like an idiot in front of Tony Stark.

"I bet I made you pretty mad earlier." he said, acting nonchalant.

"Yeah, you did."

"Really angry?"

I nodded. "But it actually hurt me more than angered me. Way to act like a jerk, you know?"

He frowned, sighing. "You didn't explode?"

I furrowed my brows, looking up at him. "No...what does that have to do with anything?"

"Damn." he muttered.

My eyes went wide then and I took a step back. "Was that what this was all about? You just wanted me to explode?"

He smirked, looking like he'd just pulled one over me. "Of course. I can't believe you would actually think I would say something like that."

I rolled my eyes, shaking my head. "Well at least I know you don't hate me."

"Kid, I don't know you well enough to hate you yet."

I rolled my eyes again, though I couldn't help but smile. The lady came back with our bags of food and drinks, and without paying a dime, we walked off. I led Tony to the table Steve and I had picked out, finding him already sitting down with Thor. They'd been kind enough to leave me a window seat. I sat down next to the window, across from Steve and next to Thor. Even sitting down he was so much bigger than me. His biceps were like the size of my head. It was pretty freakin' cool.

As Tony sat down, Steve raised an eyebrow at me, as if to ask if everything was alright. I nodded. _'I'll explain later.'_ I thought to him and he nodded. "Okay, I got a honey mustard chicken wrap and a ton of fries. It's so good; you'll love it."

"I hope so." he said, handing me a plastic knife before handing me a plate with a slice of cheese pizza.

It smelled delicious. I pulled the wrap out of the bag and unwrapped it before cutting it in half and handing one half to Steve. I then pulled my straw out of the bag and put it in the tub-o-tea, then took out the fries as well before setting them down on top of a pile of napkins.

"This is delicious!" Thor exclaimed suddenly and I looked over to see him munching on some Panda Express. "What is this?"

I smiled, holding back another laugh. "It's Chinese food. Fried rice and orange chicken. If you really want to make it better, put some duck sauce on it."

He looked over at me, eyes wide. "You make sauce out of ducks?"

I laughed, not bothering to hold it in anymore. "No, it's just called duck sauce." I shrugged. "I don't know why. But it's really good. It's the orange sauce." I said, pointing to the packet.

He nodded and opened a few plastic packets, dumping the contents on his food, mixing it up, and taking a bite. "You mortals, for such unmagically advanced creatures, have such wonderful food. It's almost like your food is your magic. Very strange, but it's good."

We all just nodded. He was a bit odd, but then again he wasn't from around here, so I guess we couldn't blame the guy. Just then Bruce walked up, holding a bag of Subway, a manilla folder, and a notebook. He looked excited and nervous at the same time, like he'd just discovered something he'd never though was possible. Which, now that I think about it, could be true.

"Okay, so before we talk about anything else, let's talk science."

I smiled, raising my hand a little. "Hi there, um, school doesn't start for another few weeks, so can we leave the science out?" I asked, only half joking.

"I think you'll want to see this. It could be the answer to a lot of our questions." Now he had all of our attention.


	13. Chapter 13

Bruce opened the manilla folder and pulled out a few pictures of blood cells. I guessed they were mine, seeing as how there was wisps of blue energy in and around them. The next set of photos he pulled out were also blood cells, but they were laced with green instead of blue. It was his blood.

"Okay, so down in the locked weapons room there's an old Hydra weapon." Bruce started to say, and out of the corner of my eye I could see Steve flinch. "One of the scientists, along with the help of a weapons tech, was able to reverse the effect of the gun. So instead of blasting out the tesseract's energy, it would suck it up. They tested it on your blood cells...and, well...just take a look." he said, pushing the photos towards us.

I picked them up and the first one was of my blood cells bathed in a golden looking light. On the back it was labeled: gun test, run 1. The next picture in the pile was of the same grouping of blood cells except they were glowing brighter and entirely blue. The next photo was just a blue flash of light.

"The tesseract's energy protected your cells. It doesn't want to be taken out." Bruce said and I flipped to the next picture, the one of his blood. It looked almost identical to mine. The next picture, also of his blood, was the cells turning green, like mine had done when they'd been hit with the ray. "The tesseract's energy is your Hulk, Emerald. It can't be taken out of you, just like the Hulk can't be taken out of me."

Steve frowned, his forehead creasing, and I put down the photos. I just sat there for a moment, dazed, while everybody else just looked and waited for my reaction. My first thought was _'I'm going to be stuck with S.H.I.E.L.D. for the rest of my life.' _That thought scared me half to death. I kept remembering what I told Steve. I'd never have a life, I'd be out casted and always be watched by S.H.I.E.L.D. My life was practically over.

"You sure?" Tony asked finally, munching on his burger."

Bruce nodded, packing up all the photos.

"Well if the tesseract can't be removed from the Tiny Maiden then she must come to Asgard."

"Is that even possible? For humans to go to Asgard, I mean." Tony asked.

Thor nodded. "Supposedly it is, but we've just never bothered to try."

"She's not going to Asgard." Steve said, his voice low and calm, but it was laced with something threatening.

"The tesseract belongs on Asgard." Thor growled back, leaning forward.

"Emerald belongs on Earth."

"No, she belongs to Asgard."

"To? She's not an object, Thor. She doesn't belong "to" anybody."

I felt an idea pop into my mind as they argued, one that favored Thor's side. Maybe if I went to Asgard, I would be treated better. S.H.I.E.L.D wouldn't be keeping tabs on me all the time. But did I really want to leave Earth?

"Hello? Hi there." I said, leaning forward and interrupting the two men. "I think I should decide where I get to live."

"Which will obviously be Earth." Steve said confidently, smirking for a change and leaning back in his seat. I didn't say anything and his smirk faded. "You can't seriously be considering living there, Em."

"Well, it depends." I said with a shrug.

"On what?" Thor asked.

"On how Asgard is. What's it like?"

Thor smiled proudly and also leaned back in his seat. "It's...massive. And gold. I don't know how else to describe it."

I sighed and closed my eyes, deciding to take a look at Asgard through Thor's mind. I sifted through his memories until I found the perfect one. He was standing at the end of a lengthy glass bridge, rainbow colors pulsing through it as it hummed under his feet. It was the Bifrost. At the other end lay Asgard, huge and beautiful. The buildings were architecturally impossible on Earth, and they seemed to out stretch from one massive golden building. I guessed it was palace. The city was bathed in an orange glow, like one from a sunset. Towards the right of the palace, two planets hung in the sky, and together the scene just took my breath away.

I opened my eyes and gasped, looking up at Thor with a grin. "It's...it's...beautiful."

Thor grinned back, beaming. "Indeed it is. We don't have those moving picture boxes or the boxes of the interwebs, but we do have magic."

"It would be like going back in time."

Thor shrugged. "It's as modern as it's ever been for us who live there. The dresses are made of the softest, finest material you'll ever wear. You could train with Lady Sif, and I assure you that you would be treated like royalty."

I was grinning wider and wider until his last sentence. "I don't want to be treated like royalty. I just don't want to be treated like a freak like I would here on Earth."

Tony chuckled and swallowed the last bite of his burger. "I'll go with you Thor. You think your people would bow down to me?"

"You already are bowed down to." Bruce said, looking pretty confused. "Why would you need other people to do the same? There are plenty of bowers on Earth, you know."

"The more the merrier." Tony replied with a wink.

"She's not going to Asgard." Steve said again.

"Can't I at least visit?" I asked Steve pleadingly.

Steve sighed, shaking his head and rubbing his face. "It's not even my decision to make. Fury's the one in charge."

"So then we'll talk to him after we're done eating." Thor said with an affirmative nod.

"And training." I said. My wheels about training to fight had been turning ever since Thor mentioned the war goddess, Sif. They looked at me like I was crazy. I seemed to get that look a lot.

"Train?" Tony asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, at least a little bit. Loki's gonna come back eventually and I want to at least know how to defend myself a little. Anything is better than nothing."

"I don't think training is such a good idea, Em." Steve said a bit quietly.

"But guys, just listen. When Loki comes again I don't want my only weapon against him to be screaming for help. That did me no good against Clint and Selvig and I don't want that to happen again." None of them said anything and I frowned, sagging my shoulders a little and looking defeated. "I don't want to feel helpless again." I whispered.

They were silent for a little while and then finally Steve nodded. "I guess we don't have to tell Fury."

I grinned and then Tony spoke. "She's right. She'd have a better chance fighting Loki off until we got there if we trained her."

"What are you guys gonna teach her?" Bruce asked, pulling off his glasses.

Thor looked down at his belt and pulled two small daggers from two almost invisible sheaths. "I could teach her to use these. They're easy to hide so nobody has to know she has them."

"I could teach her a few basic things." Steve said with a shrug. "You know, punches, kicks, evasive maneuvers. It shouldn't take long."

"And I'll be there for moral support." Tony said with a smirk before sipping at his Coke.

"Can we finish eating first?" I asked.

"Sure thing, Em." was Steve's reply, along with a genuine smile that seemed to out of time.


	14. Chapter 14

We finished our food and then sat around for a while afterwards, waiting for our food to settle. I ended up getting another batch of fries from McDonald's though. I was so hungry, and now I'm so full I could barely move. Eventually, my insides stopped feeling like they were going to explode and we threw away our trash before heading over to the training rooms. We found and empty one and walked inside, my eyes going inside.

The room was huge, just like everything else on the heli-carrier. The floor and bottom half of the walls were a black gym mat, the S.H.I.E.L.D insignia printed into the center of the mat. The top half of the walls were painted a very light grey, opening up the room. Along the back wall was a few rows of punching bags and dummies. Along the wall we were closest to, the one with the door on it, was all the equipment. Red Everlast boxing gloves, wraps, daggers, swords, spears, rods, jump ropes, and weights. In the corner was a computer, and I raised an eyebrow at it.

"What does that do?" I asked, gesturing to it.

"It controls the obstacle course." Tony replied, seating himself on a bench along the left wall.

I gave the room a once over again and furrowed my eyebrows. "What obstacle course?"

Tony smirked and clapped his hand. "Jarvis?"

"Yes, sir?" the AI answered.

"Turn on the obstacle course."

"Sir, I don't think you're in the shape needed to safely complete this course."

"Just turn it on Jarvis."

"Yes, sir."

Within a few seconds pieces of the floor had sunken in and popped back up with daunting looking obstacles. Huge walls, singing punching bags, spinning spikes, and an opening and closing door made out of razors. Just to name a few of them. Tony clapped his hands again and the course disappeared, leaving the mat safe again.

"Okay, so let's get started." Steve said, rolling his shoulders. "Before Fury finds out. He's probably watching us right now." he said, looking around for cameras probably. "Thor, you start her on the daggers while I get the bag set up."

Thor nodded and pulled out the two small daggers again, unstrapping their sheaths from his belt. "First, I'm going to give you these." he said, handing me the sheaths. "Strap them somewhere you can easily access them, but where they're not too visible."

I took the first sheath and strapped it inside my shoe. I then put my hands behind my back, pretending they were tied there. If Loki tied my hands, I needed the second one somewhere I could reach it. And where would that be? I took the second sheath and strapped it to my own black belt, in the back right where my hands would be. Perfect.

Thor just nodded his approval. "Good, now never point these at anybody unless you mean to use it against them. And don't play around with these; they aren't toys." I nodded and he handed me one of the daggers. "You're small and quick, but you don't have much training. Your opponent will always make the first move. They will lunge and try to grab you, restrain you. You're going to use their weight against them. All you have to do is a quick side step, and then thrust the dagger out. Their momentum will throw their weight into the dagger without them being able to stop it. Be sure to aim for the flesh of their belly." He poked me gently in my belly. "Here, or anywhere to the side, but not up nor down. Just here." I nodded again. "Good, now try it with me."

He got into a fighting stance, hands up a little, dagger clutched in one hand, feet apart, ready for a good old fashioned brawl. "But won't the dagger go through your armor?" I asked, looking down at the other dagger in my hand.

Thor chuckled and shook his head. "These are my own daggers, they will not pierce my armor. Trust me, Tiny Maiden. I shall be fine."

I sighed and then looked back up at him. Here goes nothing. He started circling me, and I started to circle as well, my own dagger raised and my muscles tense as I waited for him to spring. And then he did. I jumped to the side and went to stab him with the dagger but he grabbed my wrist, bending it, the dagger clattering to the floor.

"Quicker." he said, letting go of me to pick up the dagger and give it back.

He made me try again. And again, and again, until I finally got it. I felt the dagger hit his armor and I went to pull away, only to have Thor grab me and pull me closer.

"Don't pull away until you see the life fade from their eyes." he told me, his tone and piercing blue eyes totally serious. "It's your life or theirs."

Gosh! How did anybody expect me to stay focused around here when everybody was so gorgeous! Especially Thor, and here he was only inches away from me. Why the hell was I so young?!

"Do you understand?" he asked, shaking me a little.

I nodded frantically, hoping my flustered thoughts weren't obvious in my expression.

"Good, now try again."

So I did, working the pattern into my muscle memory. After a lot more tries, Thor thought we'd practiced enough and he sat himself down beside Tony after handing me the other dagger. I slipped them into their sheaths and then headed over to Steve, who'd since gotten a punching bag hung up. Easy for him, since he was like a bajillion feet tall. Either that, or I was just too damn short.

After picking out the smallest pair of candy apple red Everlast boxing gloves, he taught me a few basic punches and kicks. Once he thought I'd gotten those down, he made me spar with him, also teaching me a few ways to get out of people's grasp. I had a hard time sparring with him because he actually wanted me to punch and kick him, and I really didn't want to hurt him.

"Em, I know you can hit harder than that. Just go for it, I'll be fine." he said with a smile, and I sighed before going all out with my punches and kicks.

My kicks were far better than my punches, if I do say so myself.

"Had enough for today?" he asked finally, and I looked around the room, frowning ever so slightly. As my heartbeat had risen during training, so did the humming tesseract, it's energy flowing through me.

"Something else you want to practice?" Tony asked, raising an eyebrow and looking up from his transparent phone.

I just shrugged and brushed my side bangs out of my face. "I want to practice with the tesseract. I have a feeling it could come in handy later, but I don't want to blow anything up accidentally."

"I wouldn't try it." Steve said, his face tight as he pulled off my gloves. Okay, so he wasn't too fond of the idea.

"Steve-o's right about this one." Tony agreed. Thor nodded, running a hand through his blonde locks.

"But I want to." I said quietly, my voice calm but defiant.

"Maybe later." Steve said, his voice laced with undertones of a warning.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head, sighing. If they didn't want to help me, I'd help myself. Not now though, now I needed a nap. But later, later I would. "Okay, okay." I looked up at them with a smile. "Thanks, guys. It means a lot that you helped."

"Anytime, kiddo." Tony replied with a sarcastic smile. He hadn't done anything to help, but I couldn't help but smile. Nobody could stay mad at Tony forever.


	15. Chapter 15

**(Edit: Hi there! I've gotten a few complaints over private message and in reviews about a few things and I'd just like to take a few moments to address them. One of them is that Emerald is riding an arabian horse bareback by herself in the first chapter. I've been riding for almost six years now and I ride horses bareback by myself all the time, including arabians every once in a while. Another thing I've been getting complaints about is that her life seems very Mary-Sue ish. I write a lot based on personal experience and my life and the life of my peers is very similar to Em's. We all have pretty good families, get good grades, are involved in a lot of school activities, ect. That's just how it is in my area and that's the norm for me so it's what I'm going to write about. I'm not trying to cause an argument or riot or anything, but I just felt the need to post this. Thank you to all who read this fan fic because without the viewers this wouldn't be possible. I hope you like this next chapter :) )**

So after we put back the equipment we snuck out of the training room and went back to the cafeteria, grabbing a few more drinks. Tony and Thor's drinks were alcoholic, Steve and I just had iced teas. We talked about nothing of importance, and I found out I actually had a lot more in common than I thought with the three. They seemed to be just normal people, and though it was still really cool to be hanging out with three famous people, the awe kind of wore off.

We joked around too, my dry sense of sarcastic humor similar to Tony's. But no matter how much we joked around, I couldn't shake the anxious feeling in my gut. Almost as if Loki would appear out of nowhere and attack us; but he didn't. Now that we were relaxed and sitting around doing nothing, my exhaustion started to sink in again. My eyelids felt like they were made of lead and I kept having to snap myself awake. My brain felt like it was shutting down.

"Hey Em, are you alright?" Steve asked, leaning forward in his seat.

"I'm just really tired."

"It's only three thirty." Tony said, looking at his phone.

"Yeah I know." I replied with a yawn, rubbing my eyes. "But I don't think I got much sleep last night. You know, being hit with the tesseract and all."

Tony rolled his eyes, looking completely annoyed. "Like we could forget." I couldn't tell if he was joking or not, but before I had the chance to respond he smirked. "Almost got you again."

"Almost." I said with a tired smirk.

"Well if you're tired you should rest while you can." Steve said after taking another sip of his tea.

Thor nodded in agreement. "Yes, rest while you can, Tiny Maiden. We don't know when Loki will be back."

"But..."

Tony raised an eyebrow at me. "But what? Afraid you'll miss something?"

I smiled sheepishly. "Yes, actually."

"The only thing you'll miss is Fury's lectures. Trust me, you'll want to sleep through that." Tony told me with a chuckle.

Steve sighed and stood up, pushing his chair in. "Come on, I'll take you to your room."

I looked around the cafeteria one last time before nodding and standing up. "Okay, I'll see you guys later." I told Thor and Tony with a wave.

They bid me goodbye and I followed Steve out of the cafeteria. We walked along silently, each of us trapped in our own thoughts and neither of us seeming to mind. When I finally remembered where my room was we had to back track a few hallways, but finally we got there. Like the old fashioned gentleman he was, Steve opened the door for me, and after thanking him I stepped inside. I was a bit confused as to why my light was on, I was sure I had shut it off, but then my eyes found Natasha. She was sitting at my desk, reading my file.

She looked up when we stepped in and nodded in acknowledgement to Steve. "Rogers."

"Romanoff." he replied, doing the same.

"I'll take it from here." she said, closing the file and standing up.

Steve looked down at me before nodding. "Okay. I'll see you later, Em."

"Bye, Steve." I turned to Natasha as Steve closed the door behind him, just looking at her expectantly. "Yes?"

"Sit down." she said, gesturing to the desk chair. "I'd like to talk to you"

I sat down in the chair, leaning back in it and crossing my legs, barely able to keep myself awake.

"You're young." she said, as if I didn't already know that. "Not too old to be unable to learn new tricks."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Tricks?"

She nodded. "Loki will come for you soon. No doubt about it. And you need to be prepared." She flipped through the file and stopped at a page. "It says you like to act." I nodded and she closed the file again. "Good. When Loki comes for you, you need to act calm even if you aren't. It'll make our job easier. Do you think you can do that?"

Could I do that? Sure, I enjoyed acting and was pretty good at lying, but in a situation where my life depended on it? I wasn't sure. My skills had never been tested that far yet. The acting required for something like this was like improv, something I wasn't good at. I needed a script. Maybe if I made up one in my head, I could follow it and perform it, hopefully without any flaws. But would Loki follow the script?

"Can you do that?" Natasha asked, snapping me from my thoughts. "No matter what he says or does, you need to act strong, confident, and calm. Can you do that? because if not you might as well be dead already."

I was silent for a moment before nodding. "I can do it."

She looked me over as if she was deciding whether or not to believe me. "Good. Now, I'll be on my way. Good afternoon, Miss Jones."

Once she was gone I locked the door, slipped my shoes off, and crawled into bed. I didn't have anything else to change into, but luckily the clothes S.H.I.E.L.D had given me were big enough to be comfortable. My head hit the pillow, my eyes closed, and I was out.

...

When I opened my eyes it was pitch black, a small amount of light creeping in from under the door. My eyes flickered to the digital clock on the desk. Twelve twenty two. Ugh, way too early. I rolled over and pulled my blanket tighter around me, sinking into it's warmth. I was just about to fall asleep again when a cold hand clamped down on my mouth, the other pinning my arm to my side, my other arm trapped against the bed.

"Hello there, Emerald." a voice hissed in my ear, glowing blue eyes peering down at me.

A chill ran through me and goosebumps raised on my skin as I realized who it was, suddenly no longer tired. It was Loki.


	16. Chapter 16

I struggled against his iron grip, but he had me pinned. I tried to talk, tried to cry out, tried to scream, but my sounds were muffled under his big hand. _'Damn you!'_ I shouted into his mind, scowling.

"There, there, Darling. Don't struggle." His voice was sarcastic and taunting. "Come with me."

_'I'm not coming with you!'_

"Don't you understand? You don't have a choice. You will come with me, one way or another."

_'How did you get here?'_

"My staff doesn't just blow things up. I believe you mortals would call it teleporting."

I was about to make some snarky reply, but then I smirked as I remembered something._ 'I'm not mortal anymore.'_ I wasn't sure if this was completely true, but it was worth a shot.

I could feel irritation flood through his mind. "What?" he hissed.

_'The tesseract can't be taken out of me. You can't open your portal.'_

I thought this information would anger him, make him hostile, but instead all I felt from him was shock and horror. "What?" he asked again, his voice weak with shock. "This can't be."

I furrowed my eyebrows, thoroughly confused by his reaction. _'What's wrong? Why are you so afraid?'_

His eyes had wandered away, but now they flickered back. He scowled and shook me. "Tell me you're lying!" he hissed.

I felt the cold hand of fear start to grip my heart again, but I pushed it away, telling myself it was all just an act. Act confident. I pushed farther into his mind, struggling to break down the barriers he was putting up. One memory kept flitting to the front of his mind and I latched onto it, desperate to know what was going on.

He was standing on a dark, rocky outcrop on a planet that definitely wasn't earth. A blue, gravelly voiced hooded figure was threatening him. Something about wishing he was dead, something about torture if they didn't get the tesseract. Before the memory could finish, he shoved me out of his mind and it took me a few moments to work my way back in.

_'You made a deal with them?! Whoever "them" is. Why would you do that if the stakes were so high?"_ I mean really. What an idiotic thing to do!

"Because you weren't supposed to ruin this!" he whined. His mind was struggling against the tesseract's control. His mind was chaos. "Because I am going to win!" His words were angry but his tone was confused and afraid.

I felt sorry for him now. The man that everybody was so worried about was just desperate. For what? I couldn't yet tell. But he for sure wasn't the arrogant evil man that S.H.I.E.L.D was concerned about. _'We can help you. If you stop not it may not be too late. I can-'_

_'No! The only way you'll help me is by opening the portal!'_

_'I don't know how!' _I mentally shouted back. I was angry now. How did he honestly expect me to know how to use the power I only got yesterday? It was madness.

He studied me for a moment. "Then I shall help you learn." His voice was quiet and calm again, his mind back at peace.

_'I'm still not going with you.'_

All the sudden his staff started to glow and my stomach started to churn. Everything was black for a moment, just nothing, and then all the sudden a hard cold floor came in contact with my back, bright lights shining in my eyes. I hurriedly got to my feet, swaying a little and black dots covering my vision. "Where are we?" I asked, looking around for Loki.

"Stark Tower." Loki said, his footsteps sounding behind me.

"Is this where you plan to open the portal?" I asked, turning to face him.

"Yes, but first we have training to do."

"I'm not doing anything for you. Seriously, you don't seem to get it. This is like the tenth time I've told you this. I really hate repeating myself."

He smirked and stepped closer, only a few feet away now, and in the light while he was paused I got my first real look at him. He had shoulder length jet black hair that curled up on the ends. He had pale skin, so pale it was almost translucent. He had a pretty handsome face, but his features were always twisted into a dark, menacing, arrogant look. That made him very unattractive if I do say so myself. He was very tall, though I couldn't tell if he was muscular or not because he was hidden under all that armor. His eyes were the same glowing blue that Clint's had been, but I wondered what color his eyes really were.

"Don't you want to know the true strength of your powers? You could make people bow to you, obey you. You could rule the world with me."

"I don't want that." I answered truthfully. "I have family and friends and a home. I don't want to rule the world. What am I going to do with it?"

"You're a peculiar mortal." he said with a shake of his head. "How about this. Once I rule over Midgard, you can rule beside me. Someone has to speak for the people, protect them. You could be their saving grace from my wrath. You could be their hope, their shining light. You could help them, or be locked away."

Damn it. He'd hit my weak spot. I'd do anything to help people, especially against the likes of Loki. But wait a second. "You're not going to win." I told him matter of factly, crossing my arms.

"Who's going to stop me?"

"We are."

"We?" he asked with a chuckle. "Are you including yourself in that pitiful group of misfits? You don't even know how to control your powers." he scoffed, amused by my last words.

That was true, but I would know how to by morning. My wheels were turning now, my brain was firing on all cylinders. If I acted like I would help Loki, he'd train me. Once I knew enough to hold my own against him, I'd try to stop him until the group came and found me. They'd be here by morning. Hopefully. It would all just be one extended act. All I had to do was play the part until dawn closed the curtains. Then I could help the team."

"Fine." I muttered, narrowing my eyes a little. "I'll let you train me but only if you let me free Selvig."

He chuckled, shaking his head. "You are no position to negotiate with me. However, I shall allow it. Come with me." He turned on his heel and walked down the hall towards the elevator and I hurried after, not wanting to loose this chance.

He pressed the eight button and the doors slid shut. "I didn't know you know how to use an elevator." I said nonchalantly.

"There's a lot you don't know about me."

"I know enough." I said with a shrug.

"Oh?" He cast a side glance at me, eyebrow raising slightly and his forehead crinkling. He looked almost innocent. Almost. "What do you think you know?"

"My mom got me interested in all types of mythology, Norse included. I know you were abandoned by your family and Odin took you in because his dead father told him to." He wasn't expecting this answer because he looked away from me, expression stone cold but smoldering underneath. "I know you gave birth to a horse and you're father to a wolf and a serpent and you have a daughter named Hel. I also know you dressed up as an old woman once, to keep someone from coming back from Hel. I think his name started with a B. And I also know that you think your life is a lie, that you feel betrayed and that's why you act out. You think you're a monster." I paused, mostly for dramatic effect. "You're not. Frigga loved you, Thor loves you. I found out when I was picking through his mind. He wants you to come home. He-"

"Enough!"

I looked ahead at the elevator doors. "You're only a monster if you choose to be." I said quietly as the doors opened, following him out.

So that was his weak spot. Maybe I could use that against him. All good fighters knew their opponents weak spot. They used them to win, to defeat their enemy. I could do this, I could be a hero. I couldn't do alone though. I would need the help of the others. Then we all could be heroes. But I didn't want them to kill Loki. just capture him. Maybe I could help him, maybe Thor could help him. Nobody was past the point of no return until their soul left their body. There was still hope for him. But for now, I had to focus on freeing Selvig.


	17. Chapter 17

I collapsed back into a chair, panting and starting to sweat. That was the fourth time I'd tried to get the energy out of Selvig, but this time it was rooted in too strong. "Selvig, fight it." I growled, wanting this over with before Loki decided to stop me. Selvig just stood there.

I'd seen a lot of things while wandering around in his mind, and I'd tried a few things to uproot the energy. Things about his parents, things about his home somewhere in the desert-why the desert?-, and I'd even mentioned Thor. Nothing had worked! But his last time I'd seen two girls, Jane and Darcy I think they were. I knew Jane, I'd seen her earlier in Thor's mind while I'd been searching for the memory of Asgard. "Selvig, think about Jane, and Darcy. They need you back in the desert. They want you to go home. They miss you."

His eyes went wide though, the blue flickering in his eyes. "Jane? Darcy?" he muttered, and I launched myself back into his mind. The energy was starting to crawl it's way back into the deep of Selvig's mind but I grabbed at it, yanking it back.

"Fight it!" I shouted, gripping the arm rests of the chair.

Selvig was lucid enough to give the energy a push, and together it came free of him. The energy rushed into me, trying to get to my mind, but I wrestled to get it back into the tesseract. Finally, I did and I opened my eyes, feeling exhausted yet again.

Selvig looked around then, eyes wide and confused, before they finally rested on Loki. "You let her help me?"

He nodded slowly. "As part of a deal we have struck up. You are free to go now."

Selvig's eyes went wider and he looked to me. "You made a deal with him? Why would you do such a thing? Do you know who he is?"

I nodded, biting my lip. "Yes, I do know who he is. But as long as I was here I thought I might as well help somebody."

"Well, I'm not leaving without you. I'm not leaving you here with him."

"Selvig, please go."

"No, I'm not-"

"Selvig!" He stopped talking, looking at me a bit startled. "Go." He hesitated. _'Find S.H.I.E.L.D, let them know what's going on. But whatever you do, don't come back.'_

Selvig frowned and me, shoulders hunching slightly. "Fine." he mumbled, casting a frightened glance over at Loki. He walked over to elevator, got inside, and disappeared. A few minutes later I watched him walk across the street through one of the many windows that dotted the room we were in. Selvig was free. I was alone with Loki. Now what?

"I shall give you ten minutes to rest, then I will come to retrieve you." Loki said, turning on his heel and walking off.

Great. Ten minutes to sit around and over think things, get nervous. My stomach twisted into knots and my palms got sweaty, but ten minutes passed surprisingly quick and Loki was back to retrieve me. He lead me through a few hallways until we came to one of Tony's many gyms. It was simple, just a few punching bags, a bench, some weights and jump ropes, and a blue mat. Nothing fancy like the S.H.I.E.L.D training room. Loki placed his staff on one of the benches and then turned top face me.

"Close you eyes." he said, and I hesitated. What was he planning? Would he hurt me? "Close you eyes." he repeated as we reached the center of the blue mat.

I licked my lips and did as he said, expecting a blast of pain to rush through my body. But instead, nothing.

"Can you see the tesseract?" he asked, and I shook my head. "Then find it."

I nodded and pushed deep within myself, and soon a bright blue glow filled my mind's eye. I gasped and could hear Loki chuckle.

"I take it you've found it." I nodded. "Good. Now, yes you can make those "force fields" and you can use that energy to telepathicly communicate, but you must learn to control that energy when it is outside the body. Before we can get to that, though, first you must understand it while it is inside you. Can you feel the tesseract?" I nodded again. "What does it feel like?"

I was silent for a moment, paying attention to every part of my body. "It feels like my body's got so much energy." Well, it did. "It's warm, and tingly. I can feel it flowing through me."

"Can you trace it through you body?" I nodded. "Where does it start?"

"In my heart."

"Then where to?"

"Then through my arms, my torso, down my legs and into my toes, then back. There's always a constant source of the energy in my mind, some of it never leaves there."

"Okay. Now, follow that energy through your body. Feel it, harness it, work with it. Now create two orbs with the energy in the palm of your hand."

I did as he said, feeling the energy flow through me, and as it passed over my hands I imagined the energy floating up through my pours and created orbs in my hands.

"Open your eyes." Loki whispered, and when I did he was smiling.

I glanced down at my hands and gasped, smiling too. Two spheres of pulsing blue energy were floating in the palms of my hands. They were beautiful and so unbelievable.

"Make them bigger." Loki commanded.

I pressed more energy into the orbs, they went from the size of a golf ball to the size of a grapefruit. With a smirk he strode over to me and placed his hands on my shoulders, turning me to face the five punching bags against the far wall.

"How is your aim?" he asked, a bit of mischief laced within his voice.

"Pretty good." I said with a shrug.

"Throw one of the orbs at the chain that holds the bag to the ceiling."

I nodded and then he took a step back, giving me room to throw. I put my arm back and threw the orb in my right hand like a baseball, hitting the chain. It incinerated instantly and the bag fell to the floor with a loud thud.

"This time hit the bag."

I carefully placed my hands together and dropped the orb in my left hand into my right. I smiled as I did so, feeling the energy transfer in my hands. I threw the orb at the bag again and it split open, the sand inside spilling everywhere like an hourglass had been broken.

"Again." he commanded, and I did the same to the other four bags. "Good, darling, good. Now let's make this bigger. Make another orb, but don't let the energy stop flowing. Keep it going. Understand?" I nodded. "Now blast a hole in that wall."

My eyes wandered to the wall he was pointing to and went wide. "But-"

"Do it!"

I sighed and made another orb in my hand, pressing energy into it until it just popped and flew out of my hands like a river. The wall put up a bit of resistance, but soon shattered, dust filling the air and gaping hole in the wall.

"You're a faster learner. Maybe we can get to something interesting after all. Now imagine that kind of energy coming from all around you. I want you to blow up this room."

My eyes really went wide this time. Was he insane? "But-"

"Do it!"

I scowled at him and closed my eyes, the blue glow in my mind again, and pictured the energy just streaming out of me. My gut twisted and the energy spilled out of me. I felt like it was pinching me from the inside out. Before I knew what was happening, the floor gave out underneath us, crumbling and I put up a force field as I hit the floor beneath, the breath getting knocked out of me. Pieces of the ceiling-or floor, depending on what floor you were on- continued to fall, and some would of crushed me if I hadn't had the force field up.

After regaining my breath, I sat up and looked around, pushing away some pieces of debris. "Loki?" He didn't answer. Maybe he would of gotten crushed. Then we wouldn't have anything to worry about anymore. "Hello?"

"I'm here." he answered at last, a pile of debris moving as he sat up.

I frowned. Darn it, we still had to worry about him. I crawled over to where he was, seeing a gash on his forehead now. It was bleeding heavily, but it was a face wound. Most of them did that. "Are you okay?" I asked, and then felt stupid afterwards. Why was I asking him that?

"Yes, I'm fine. And you?"

"I'm okay. Just my back hurts a little."

"Hm. Well, we must find a new place to train."

"What else is there to teach me?"

He chuckled, smirking and wrapping one of my curls around his finger. "Darling, you've only scratched the surface of what you can do."

****Sorry for stupid chapter. Hopefully the next one will be better :) ****


	18. Chapter 18

After aimlessly wandering around Stark Tower for about a half hour, we finally found another gym. He made me practice more with the orbs and force fields before getting me to make objects with the energy. First little things, like daggers and darts, then big items like swords and spears. I once made a light saber with the energy. It looked so real and cool, but Loki didn't understand the Star Wars reference.

We took a ten minute break, and after I sat down I guess I fell asleep because I can't ever remember ten minutes going by so fast. I slowly got to my feet and a ran a hand through my curls, yawning, but then Loki picked up his staff, the blue gem glowing brightly. My eyes went wide and I stepped back.

"Don't fret, child. It is all part of training. You'll get to test your powers against against ones almost as equal. This shall be the best learning experience for both of us."

I took another step back, my stomach twisting into knots. "You never said anything about this."

"You don't trust me?" he asked, pretending to be offended.

"Not in a million years." I growled.

He chuckled, smirking. "Smart girl. But don't worry, I won't kill you." His smirk grew bigger. "Yet."

I gulped and took a few more steps back, but by now my back was against the wall.

"Fight me, Emerald. See how powerful you really are."

I stood there, glancing between him and his staff. I could do this, right? It was just training, for now. I could handle training a little spar with Loki. Who, by the way, just so happened to be god of mischief and lies. Maybe sparring with him wasn't such a good idea.

"We haven't got all night." he growled and I glanced towards the clock. Three fifteen a.m; only a few hours until dawn.

"Fine." I snapped, lighting two orbs in my hands.

A wicked smirk crossed his lips and he stepped towards me. "I knew you'd see it my way."

He raised his staff up and aimed it at me, the staff glowing brighter until it shot at me. My eyes went wide and I dived to the floor. The ray hit the wall where I had previously been standing, pieces of dry wall shooting into the air. I flipped onto my back and started to back pedal away as he kept coming closer.

"Running? You should be fighting back."

Fighting back? Could I do that? Against his staff and silver tongue? Of course I could! I could fight back! I may not win, but I wasn't going down without a fight. That's what I came to do, wasn't it? Why I had Thor and Steve help me. I could do this.

I got to my feet and lit two orbs in my hands, facing Loki. My expression was somewhat calm, but he could probably hear my frantic heart pounding. He smiled, though something dark glinted in his eyes. He wanted this fight so bad, so I was gonna give it to him.

"Make your move." he growled.

I threw an orb at him, purposefully missing his head. He chuckled and watched it fly by his head and into the wall.

"That all you got?" he asked with a snicker, and before he could turn his gaze back to me I threw another orb. It hit him square in the chest, making him stumble back a few steps. "Clever play, darling. Let's see what else I can coax out of you."

He charged me, staff raised as he prepared to bring it down upon me. In a moment of panic I put my force field up and his staff bounced right off. I quickly put it down and kicked him in the gut, but my foot connected with armor. Pain shot through my foot and ankle and I sucked in a breath. Loki just smirked at me.

I scowled at him and lit an orb in my hand, but then something clicked in my mind. I couldn't fight Loki face on like this. I had to dance. As he powered up his staff again I turned and ran, my eyes seeking higher ground. He followed after me, his footsteps revealing that he would overcome me before long. I jumped onto one of the resting benches and then turned to face him. That's when I jumped.

I jumped and came down on Loki, both of us tumbling to the ground but him landing on the bottom. I grabbed his silky black hair and raised it up before bringing it down hard against the ground. I was able to do that twice more before he finally pushed me aside with his staff. I landed hard on the mat and rolled over to see him now standing above me, glaring down at me.

"You've got more fight in you than I once thought." he said. "If that is how you wish to play, so be it."

He raised the blade end of his staff and brought it down towards my stomach. I rolled away, but not soon enough. The staff sliced through my left side, cutting through skin and muscle. Blood gushed out and the sharp pain was all I could think. I opened my mouth to scream., but didn't let any sound come out. I wouldn't give him that satisfaction. Tears welled in my eyes but I willed them back, not about to cry in front of Loki.

I had to get up, staying on the ground would certainly mean my death. I scrambled to my feet, swaying when I stood as I pressed a hand to my side. Warm sticky blood gushed through my fingers and I could feel the tears coming back. He swung the staff like a baseball bat and I ducked. When I came back up he drove the end of it into my chest, knocking the wind out of me. I coughed and gasped, which only made the blade wound hurt more.

He was inching closer, preparing to strike. I had to do something, but what? At last the snake made his move, raising his staff above his head to bring it down on mine. Almost as if second nature, I grabbed for the dagger Thor had given me and side stepped, thrusting it into Loki's abdomen as he came at me, his own weight driving the dagger in hilt deep. His blood trickled over my fingers and I pulled away, eyes wide.

Between my wound and his blood-literally- on my hands, I was getting dizzy, weak in the knees. He looked down at the dagger and pulled it out, smirking when he saw it. "My brother teach you that? I'll be sure to thank him later."

He aimed the staff at me, the gem glowing again. I raised my hands, orbs lit in them and ready to fire. He shot the gem's energy and I the tesseract's. The two energies clashed for a moment, pooling together, before exploding. And that's all I know before everything went black.


	19. Chapter 19

I groaned and opened my eyes, surprised to find it still pitch black, the only light was a soft orange glow from the street lamps outside. What was going on? In the distance, the shrill shriek of police sirens could be heard, sounding very out of place in the quiet night. Loki was somewhere around here, why was he so silent? Was he hiding somewhere, waiting for me to come out? Maybe he was still unconscious. Either way, I still had to get a move on.

I went to sit up and a wave of pain washed over me, making me gasp for air and fall back. I lay there for a while, waiting for the black dots to clear from my vision. When they finally did, I sat up again, leaning on a pile of debris to keep me upright. My side started to gush blood again and I tried not to panic. I needed a bandage; without one my chances of escaping were close to zero. I grabbed the bottom of my pant leg and ripped it, gritting my teeth as I did so. I ripped it in half again and bundled up one of the halves, pressing it against my gash. The other half I tied around my midsection to keep the bundle in place. The bandage was very crappy, but it was better than nothing.

I sat there, listening to the sirens get closer. I needed to get out here. Gritting my teeth again, I got to my hands and knees and slowly crawled over to the edge of building. There had once been floor to ceiling glass, but it had been shattered in the explosion. How far up was I? Four floors? Five? Too high to jump. Way too high. I'd have to take the elevator, there was no way I'd be able to walk down the stairs. Hopefully it still worked.

I crawled back towards the elevator, keeping to the piles of debris to hopefully stay out of sight. But the last few feet to the elevator were open. I'd have to get out of my safe little hiding spot. After taking a deep breath I peeked my head around and looked for Loki. He was no where in sight. I got to my feet, swaying and my knees weak, and made my way to the elevator. I fell against the wall and pressed the button more times than I should have, but it didn't open. Did it even work anymore? I glanced over my shoulder for Loki but he still hadn't shown up. Maybe I could escape. The elevator dinged and the doors opened, revealing the square inside of the pristine elevator. I smiled and went to step inside when someone grabbed my pony tail and yanked me back.

"Going somewhere?" Loki's voice hissed in my ear, sending chills down my spine. Where had he shown up from?

He pulled me over to the edge of the building, looking down at the police force parked below. The head officer saw us and he grabbed a bullhorn from the car. "Sir, release the girl and put your hands up."

Loki just laughed. "Or what?" he pulled my pony tail up, forcing me to stand on my tiptoes if I didn't want my scalp to explode. "You and your mortal force cannot defeat me. You should leave. I will carry out my plans, whether I have to get rid of you first or not." he called down to them.

He then pushed me forward a little so I was leaning over the edge, only held back by his grasp and my tiptoes. I tried not to whimper but I couldn't help it. The police chief pointed to a squad of men and then to the building. They advanced towards the doors.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Loki called, holding me out farther.

The officers stopped, glancing back at their chief for further instructions. I just desperately hoped he didn't say "release the girl". Loki would surely drop me over the edge. A jet could be heard flying towards the building, overhead and then landing on the roof. Loki glanced up and then smirked, his gaze traveling to me.

"They're here. They've come for you, darling." Something about Loki's voice just screamed insanity.

He pulled me back into the room so he could retrieve his staff, never letting go of my hair. He just dragged me around with him. The sound of mini jets could be heard outside, a metal clunk afterwards. Tony had landed, and next to him was Thor.

"Brother, let her go." Thor demanded, taking a step towards us.

Loki raised an eyebrow, smirking and acting like Thor's words had no effect on him. But I knew they did, they had to. I'd been in his mind, I knew anything Thor said tore him apart. He was blinded by his jealousy and anger, and he let that mask show to the world. "Brother? I am no brother of yours. Your false claims do not fool me." Loki snapped.

I could practically hear Tony rolling his eyes. "Listen, can you two work out your family issues later? I have no interest in this and I'm sure Emerald doesn't either."

I tried to nod but my head snapped back. "I will not let her go." Loki growled. "I will open this portal and earth will be mind." He put the tip of his staff to my chest, right above my heart which was now pounding frantically. "You can't stop me." he hissed, the staff starting to glow.

"Loki, don't." Thor growled, raising Mjolnir slightly.

"Oh fuck it." Tony muttered, raising his hand and blasting Loki with the arc's power.

We both flew back, but Loki's hold on me had slipped. I scrambled to my feet and tried to get to Thor but Loki grabbed my leg, yanking me back and making me fall forward. He raised his staff and blasted Thor with it, sending him flying back. Loki pulled me closer and then stood up, one arm wrapped around me to limit my movement, the other holding his beloved weapon.

"Let. Me. Go!" I shrieked, squirming in his grasp, though I was weak and I couldn't put up much of a fight.

He moved his hand towards my mouth to cover it but I raised my head and opened my mouth, catching his hand between my teeth. I bit down, hard. I wasn't one for biting and hair pulling while fighting, but right now I didn't have many other choices. I felt my canines sink into his skin and some of his blood started to trickle onto my tongue. I wanted to puke, I wanted to scream and go wash my mouth out, but I didn't let go. Loki yowled in pain and slapped me hard across the face, making me finally let go and stumble back.

The stair doors burst open then, some of Loki's mind controlled minions coming into the room. Some of them looked like they'd been in a fight, probably with the other three in the group. The blue eyed soldiers started to attack Thor and Tony and I rushed forward to help in any way I could when suddenly an arm circled around my waist and lifted me off the ground. Loki. He snatched me off my feet and started towards the elevator, trying to keep hold of me as I thrashed around.

"Emerald!" Tony called, elbowing a man unconscious before striding over to Loki and I.

As he made his way towards us one of the soldiers came up behind him, preparing to jump on his back. I opened my mouth to warn Tony but Loki covered it successfully this time and Tony was oblivious. I raised my hand and formed an orb in my hand, aiming it at the man behind Tony. If I missed it would hit Tony, and that wouldn't be good at all. I had one shot, I couldn't screw this up. The man jumped and I shot the orb, only a second later being blasted out of the air and rendered unconscious. Tony glanced over his shoulder at the man and then back at me.

"Thanks kiddo." he said, only a few feet away now. "Where do you think you're going, Reindeer Games?" Tony asked Loki as he hit the elevator button.

"To the roof, where else?"

"You're not going to open that portal."

"And who's going to stop me?"

"I am."

"Oh? You? With what army?"

The stair doors opened again and in walked Steve, Clint, and Natasha. Perfect timing. "This one." Tony said, gesturing to his four companions. I could hear the cocky smirk in his voice.

Loki glanced around at the semi-circle of heroes and I could tell he was getting nervous. They had him cornered. "We'll see about that." he hissed, the staff glowing brightly and my gut twisting. He was going to teleport us. Next thing I know we're on the roof, the horizon starting to grow light. He finally let go of me, putting the tip of the staff to my chest with a smirk. "You will help me open this portal."

"I can't! I don't know how!" I said, taking a step back. My knees were weak, my head was spinning, and my side was throbbing with pain. I wouldn't be able to stay on my feet much longer. I needed to think of something. I glanced around the roof for a way out, but the only escape was down and nobody would be able to catch me. Or maybe...maybe somebody would.

"Then we'll keep trying until you can!"

He powered up the staff and I made a break for it, Loki right on my heels. When I came to the edge and I didn't hesitate, I just propelled myself off the roof and plummeted down. I closed my eyes, biting my tongue to keep from screaming, and I waited. And waited, and waited. All the sudden I could hear something flying towards me and then metal arms grabbed me, making my trip upwards now. I opened my eyes and grinned in relief to see Tony. Well, kind of. He still had his mask on, but it was still Tony.

I glanced up at Loki then and the look on his face was priceless. His jaw was dropped in shock, his eyes wide and smoldering. He looked shocked and pissed off. It was hilarious and I couldn't help but laugh a little. I waved at him and he just scowled, making me laugh again.

Tony brought me back into the jet, the others following with Loki in tow. He was wearing heavy looking metal cuffs and a metal muzzle around his mouth. He still looked angry, furious, enraged, but I could see the tiniest bit of something else there as well. Guilt? No. Remorse? Neh. So then what was it?

I guess it didn't matter though, I'd figure it out eventually. But for now all that mattered was that Loki was back in cuffs and we were safe.

_'I'm not done with you.'_ Loki hissed in my mind.

Oops, spoke too soon.


	20. Chapter 20

We flew back to the heli-carrier and got there rather quickly, the entire time I sat next to Steve with my head resting on his shoulder. I was ready to pass out again, but Steve said I had to stay awake until the doctors looked at me.

"How bad do you think it is?" I asked him, feeling like I was talking with cotton in my mouth.

He just shrugged lightly. "Oh, I don't know. Not too bad, probably." He sounded nervous and uncertain, which meant his words translated into 'It's bad.'

When we got back, Steve helped me to the medical bay while the rest took Loki to Fury. The docs gave me a painkiller and I finally passed out. They stitched up my wound and when I woke up, my head was pounding. Though, my side pain was nonexistant. I was loopy for around an hour before becoming aware of everything. It was then I noticed Steve sitting in the corner, reading the newest issue of People Magazine. He had also changed into a normal pair of clothes, ones less bright than his red, white, and blue suit.

"Hi." I said, fighting off a wave of naseua.

Steve looked up from the magazine and smiled, moving the chair closer so that he was sitting next to the bed. "Hey. How are you feeling?"

"My head hurts." I admitted.

"The docs said it would. It's the painkillers, but it should wear off soon." he said with a nod.

I sighed and looked up at the white ceiling panels. "Did I miss anything important?"

"Not much, really." he replied after a moment of thought.

"Do you know how long until I get my stitches out?"

He sighed this time and shook his head. "A long time. He got you pretty bad."

"Does that mean I can't do anything?"

"Not for a while. No training, horseback riding, excessive movement. There was a whole list."

I frowned and looked over at him, brows furrowed. "Do you really think S.H.I.E.L.D. will let me go home?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't they?" he asked, confused.

"Well, I have the cube. The cube belongs on Asgard or with them, and they probably don't want me to go to Asgard. They'll keep me here so nobody else gets the tesseract." Steve clenched his jaw and looked down at the closed magazine laying across his lap. "You know I'm right."

"So what?" he snapped. "They don't have any right to keep you here. You're not their property, you're not anyone's property."

"They're the government, Steve. They can do whatever they want."

"Well not that. I won't let them."

I raised an eyebrow at him, starting to feel touched by his words but also confused. Was Steve sticking up for me? "Why? It's not your job to protect me."

"I know but this shouldn't be happening to you, or anybody your age. You're a kid, you've got your whole life ahead of you and S.H.I.E.L.D shouldn't be able to take it from you."

I tilted my head a little, waiting for him to continue speaking. There was something else he wanted to say, all I needed to do was wait.

"Being a hero isn't all it's cracked up to be, Em. Most of us come about by accidents, like with how you got the tesseract, forced into the spotlight by things we can't control. We get hurt, the people we love get hurt. We have to hurt people, sometimes kill them, in order to protect the things we believe are right. We make a lot of enemies, and it's dangerous. It's better for us to live alone and have few close to us, that way the only person we hurt is ourselves. It's something someone your age shouldn't have to go through." His face was creased, a frown turning down his lips. His eyes were deep blue pools of emotions that he hadn't told to anybody. He was in pain, old memories were haunting him.

"I'm sorry." I whispered.

"For what?"

"For whatever's making you sad."

He tried to smile, though it turned out as more of a grimace. "I'm not sad."

I rolled my eyes. "You're not very good at lying, Steve."

He just smirked and shook his head. "Yeah, I know."

We were both quiet for a while, lost in our thoughts, when suddenly I said, "What if I want to be a hero?" He looked down at me, surprise written all over his face. "My life is so...boring. Same small town, same people, same routine all the time. Nothing changes. I watch movies and read books about people having all this adventure in their life, getting to travel and see the world, getting to fight bad guys and find out secret information. They do something great, in one way or another. I want to do something great, too. I want to have an adventure. The last few days have been the biggest adventure of my life. Yeah, I've been hurt and yeah the safety of the world possibly hangs in the balance, but it's exciting! I never know what's going to happen next! I mean, for crying out loud, Steve, I have super powers!"

"Well, Miss Superpowers, maybe you could help us out with something." Fury said as he walked into the room, Thor right behind him.

I glanced over at Steve but he didn't seem too happy, so I reverted my gaze back to Fury and Thor. They came to sit at a small table to the left of my bed.

"Miss Jones, Loki is a highly dangerous man and he doesn't belong on earth. It would be best for everybody if he was returned to Asgard."

Steve's eyes went wide and he clenched his fists, as if he already knew what Fury was going to ask of me.

"However, the only way to get him there would be through his staff or the tesseract. We can't trust Loki with his staff, and the tesseract is under your control. I won't force you to do anything this risky or dangerous, but the factors that come into play if Loki remains on earth as just as risky. We'd greatly appreciate it if you would try to open up a portal to Asgard." Fury said, and Thor nodded.

"How dangerous is it?" I asked before even thinking.

"According to Dr. Banner and Dr. Selvig, very dangerous. Any number of things could happen, but the three most likely are as follows. One, you could get transported to Asgard as well. Two, you'd send them to another realm other than Asgard. Or three, when you try to open up a portal the tesseract's energy would incinerate you."

I frowned as he said this and glanced back up at the ceiling. I didn't want to be incinerated, but going to Asgard sounded fun. Maybe not for Loki though. His punishment would probably be horrible. What if they put him under the snake again?

"Do you know what Loki's punishment would be?" I asked Thor, trying to sound like I didn't care.

"I cannot say." the blonde replied, shaking his head.

I looked back at the ceiling again, remaining silent and thinking through everything. Did I want to send them back and risk my life? The answer was undecided. Did I want to go to Asgard? Yes! So maybe I could "accidentally" transport myself there too. Then I'd have a real adventure.

"You don't have to decide today, Miss Jones. You have until tomorrow morning, twenty four hours. For now, just get some rest." Fury said, standing up and walking out with Thor, who waved goodbye.

"I think I'm gonna do it." I told Steve once the door swung shut.

"What?" he asked, looking at me like I was crazy. "You can't! It's too dangerous! What if you get incinerated or whatever?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. I want to talk to Loki first, but I think I'm gonna do it."

He just looked baffled now. "Why do you want to talk to him? He tried to kill you!"

Why? Because I wanted his opinion in all of this. I wanted to hear his side of the story. Not only that, but I had so many questions that I wanted answers to, and Loki was the only one who could answer them. But I didn't have to tell Steve that.

"Besides, I don't think Fury will let us." he concluded.

I sighed and rolled my eyes, smirking at Steve and his good nature. "Who said we had to ask Fury?" I asked rhetorically.

Steve narrowed his eyes at me and then sighed, rubbing his forehead. "I don't like this." he muttered to himself. "Fine, I'll take you, but only after you rest."

I nodded, smiling and starting to get excited.

"And I have to supervise."

I nodded again, my smile growing bigger. "Of course, Steve. Thank you."

"Sure thing, Em. Now," he said, standing up and grabbing the magazine, along with his brown leather jacket. "get some rest. I'll see you when you wake up."

I nodded and waved goodbye as he walked out, then found the remote that controlled the hospital bed. I lowered the bed into a flat position and then hit the lights off button, the room suddenly growing dark. It took me a while to silence my thoughts, but at last I did and sleep took over.


	21. Chapter 21

When I woke up, the first thing I registered was the pain in my side. I was going to need more pain killers soon. I glanced over at wall clock to see the time, to try and figure out how long I'd been asleep for. It was hard to see the clock hands in the dim light, but eventually I caught on to find the time was twelve forty five. I'd slept for a long time, but was too drowsy to figure out exactly how long. Yes, I was drowsy and probably not very aware of anything, but I was eager to go see Loki.

I closed my eyes and let my mind wander around the heli-carrier to look for Steve. He was sitting in his room reading yet another magazine, munching on a bag of potato chips. _'Trying to catch up on the latest gossip?'_ I thought to him teasingly.

He seemed startled for a moment before chuckling and shaking his head. _'I've got seventy years of gossip to catch up on.'_ he replied, closing the magazine. _'Sleep well?'_

_'Better than I ever have, but I think it was mostly because of the drugs they gave me.' _

_'True. So...do you still want to...you know, go see Loki?'_

I didn't respond right away, taking a minute to think it over. Did I want to see Loki still? I soon determined the answer to my foolish question was yes, because I wanted answers. _'Yeah, I do.'_

He sighed mentally, and shook his head._ 'Okay, I'll be right over.'_

_'Great. Oh, and Steve? Can you bring me a change of clothes please? I don't want to walk around the heli-carrier in this hospital gown.'_

_'Sure thing, Em.'_

Within a few minutes he was up in my room with a pair of S.H.I.E.L.D clothes- a black polo shirt with the S.H.I.E.L.D insignia and a pair of black pants-and a wheelchair. "It's too soon for you to be walking around." he said when he saw my frown. "Doctor's orders."

I just sighed and rolled my eyes. There was no point in arguing so I just said okay and he left so I could change into the clothes. It took a lot longer since I had to be careful of my stitches. I called Steve into the room once I was done and he helped me into the wheelchair before wheeling me towards the detention center. He asked again if I still wanted to do this, and I again said yes then reassured him that everything would be fine.

The guards opened the doors and then closed them behind us when we got there. There was only about ten cells, Loki being in the first. He was laying on his cot that was pressed against the left side of the cell. I couldn't see his face, only his sleek raven black hair.

"Here to mock me? Go ahead, take your laugh." he said suddenly. His voice was loud and confident, but lacked it's usual energy.

"I'm not the type to kick a man when he's down." I replied, my tone flat but truthful.

He glanced over at me then, his eyes almost the same color as mine now as he raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Then why are you here? To have a chat?"

"Yes, actually. I want to talk to you."

"About what?"

"About everything. I have questions."

With a slow nod he sat up and swung his legs over the edge of his cot. "Go ahead, ask."

"They want me to open up a portal and send you home...What are they going to do to you when you get back to Asgard?" I asked cautiously.

A chuckle escaped his lips and he looked at me as if I were amusing. "Probably lock me up, nothing worse than the old snake punishment. But it is not them I am worried about, tis the Chituari."

"Why did you make that deal with them anyway if they're that dangerous?"

"Because I wasn't supposed to loose."

"Well you did. Now they're going to...to...what are they gonna do to you?"

His eyes traveled down to the concrete floors, face blank of all emotion but I knew he was hiding. I closed my eyes and carefully entered Loki's mind. All the sudden a crushing weight slammed into my chest, making me gasp for air. Nothing was okay, my world was practically over, my future dark and uncertain. I was going to be hunted down, tortured in ways even I couldn't imagine. Nobody cared, nobody would save me, nobody loved me. I was alone. I was sinking farther into this dark abyss with no way out, no home to return to. The physical pain, however, would be a blessing, a welcomed distraction from the chronic pain that dulled my immortal life.

_"It's crushing, isn't it?'_ Loki's voice sounded in my mind.

It was then I realized all the trauma I'd been experiencing was Loki's deep rooted pain. My eyes went wide and I frowned, biting my lip as tears welled up in my eyes. I could never imagine going through that kind of pain, I didn't know if I could handle it, but yet he'd been living with it for thousands of years.

_'They're going to hurt you?'_ I asked him quietly.

_'They'll torture me. Even I can't guess how.'_

'_Why do you think nobody cares?'_

_'Because it's true. I'm an outcast, belonging to none of the nine realms. I'm not Asgardian, nor Frost Giant. I am nothing, a mere experiment gone wrong.'_

_'Well, if these creatures do come for you like you say they will, Thor will help you.'_

_'I do not need Thor's help!' _he snapped, but I could feel everything he was. He did want Thor's help, he wanted Thor back as his brother. All he wanted was to be seen as his equal, not as some monster.

_'I'm sorry.'_ I thought quietly.

_'For what?'_

_'For everything...that you think nobody cares. It's not true.'_

_'Oh? Then tell me, darling. Who cares?'_

_'Thor does. I do.'_

_'You?'_ At first he seemed confused, then almost touched, before something snapped and he was engraged. _'Why? Why would you care?' _ He thought I was mocking him.

Now it was my turn to be confused. Why did I care? I didn't have a real reason...but wait, yes I did. _'Being alone, without anybody there for me, is honestly my biggest fear. It always has been. Because of that I've always felt the need to help people who think they have nothing, to prove that somebody does care for them, that they have a friend. Nobody should ever feel alone.'_

_'Well, I don't need your pity or friendship.' _ Lie.

_'No, you feel you don't deserve it. Why wouldn't you?'_ He tried to break our mental connection but I pulled him back, tapping into his emotions as I did so. _'You feel you don't deserve it from someone as innocent as me.'_

_'I don't! Besides, I don't think a "friendship" between someone like me and you would go over very well with anybody. And not only that, but we live galaxies apart.'_

_'If I can open up a portal, I could visit.'_

_'Nobody would let you visit, and especially not Odin.'_

_'Stop making excuses!' _I snapped. I was sick and tired of his useless excuses and banters. _'Why wouldn't you deserve my friendship or care?'_

_'Because I am a monster! I have done things that would scare you out of your wits. Because of me, you are no longer safe. The Chituari, they will not stop with me. They want the tesseract and they won't stop for anything to get it. I will be the cause of the fear and pain they will bring you!'_

I frowned and looked away from him, down at the floor and away from his broken gaze. _'They can't get here without a portal.'_

_'They will find a way.'_

_"Okay, fine. But for the record, I'll be here if you want to talk.'_

He didn't reply.

'_I don't think you're a monster.'_ I whispered into his mind before pulling away and looking back at up him. His eyes were widened a little, just deep emerald pools of emotion. His expression was something between broken, hopeful, and surprised.

"I'm going to open the portal." I said aloud.

"I can help you, if you like." he said, regaining his composure and lying back down on the cot.

"It would be appreciated." I looked up at Steve and nodded. "Take me to Fury."


	22. Chapter 22

Fury was a bit surprised when I said I'd be more than happy to try and open the portal, but he didn't question it. For the next six weeks we worked with Selvig and Banner to try and figure out how to open the portal without having some major accident happening. Six weeks was a long time to wait, but the doctors wouldn't let it be any sooner. I had to heal first and blah blah blah. You know, medical stuff.

There wasn't much free time, but whenever there was us Avengers would hang out. Most of the time, Natasha wasn't present for these get togethers. Clint was, but after a while would always go find Natasha and them two would spend time together. I told Clint he should take Nat out on a date, but he said it wasn't "professional."

"Who cares?" I told him. "Ask her out or something! Don't be a stooge! She won't wait forever, you know."

The next evening, both of them were missing from dinner and I was the only one who knew where they were. They were at some local restaurant that had the best burgers you'd ever eat. Tony let Pepper take me shopping one day with his credit card so I didn't have to wear those dreary S.H.I.E.L.D clothes for the duration of my stay. Pepper was nice but almost kind of shy. It was a miracle that she was able to keep Tony in line. How? I had no clue.

Thor got a visit from one of Dr. Selvig's friends, Jane Foster, though she was clearly more than a friend to our friendly alien. She was nice and pretty, but so tiny compared to Thor and his dozens of muscles. They were so cute together, though.

Fury got in contact with my parents and explained everything to my hysteric mother and enraged father. They allowed me to stay and help open the portal, but I was to call them every night and return home directly afterwards. I was eager to get home to my friends and family, but I didn't want to leave the Avengers. I wanted to continue training and become a real hero, like them.

"Don't worry, Kiddo." Tony said to me. "You can come visit us in the summer."

Summer was officially now my new favorite season.

Six weeks passed rather quickly and the day came for me to open the portal. I made Fury take a picture of us though while Thor was still here, because who knows when I would see him again? After, we went off to Central Park, cleared a large area of any people, and then situated Thor and Loki on either side of me.

"Don't do anything stupid when you get home." I whispered to Loki so only he could hear. "And visit me when you're out of prison." He just sighed, but under the muzzle I could tell he was smiling a little.

My stomach twisted into nervous knots and I closed my eyes, calling on the tesseract's energy. I felt my body buzz with the energy and it's blue glow filled my mind's eye. I imagined Asgard in my mind, and almost instantly the tesseract knew what I wanted. After taking a deep breath, I focused the energy outside my body and heard gasps from the people around me, before all the sudden I could tell Thor and Loki were no longer with us.

I went back home the day after and returned to school. Of course, under the watchful eye of Captain America to protect me from those never present forces of evil. After school, along with drama club, track team, and horseback riding lessons was training in a local gym, also with Cap. During summers I would go to Stark Tower and continue training with the rest of the Avengers, sometimes even going on missions if there was anything important S.H.I.E.L.D needed to get done.

I finished high school with flying colors and S.H.I.E.L.D hired a team of private college tutors for me to continue my education while I worked. Yep, worked. By eighteen I was a full time S.H.I.E.L.D agent and Avenger, the youngest in history. Here I am, seven years later at the age of twenty five still working for S.H.I.E.L.D and still waiting for that visit from Loki. Life's been dangerous, life's been crazy, and life as a hero isn't always easy. But hey, I wouldn't trade it for any other.


End file.
